We’ve started a Blog!

AAHSA’s Quality First team recently developed a new way to start discussions and share information with you: an AAHSA Quality First Blog.

There, you’ll find insights and ideas from your peers, like Bill, about putting quality first in your work. There’s just one thing missing: you. Visit aahsaqualityfirst.
wordpress.com now to join our blog community and to start contributing to this important conversation.

---

Quality First Question of the Quarter

We want to know how you are putting quality first in your organization. That’s why we are launching our Quality First Question of the Quarter. We’ll use the answers to enhance our work to help you along your Quality First journey.
Click here to take the survey.

---

Related Resources

• Providers’ Checklist Self-Assessment Tool
• Recruitment & Retention Resources
• Quality First Assessment Tools
• Learn more about Quality First.

For more information about AAHSA Quality First, contact Bruce Rosenthal, Vice President of AAHSA Quality First, (202) 508-9499.

Jan. 24, 2008

Dear Fellow AAHSA Members,

When AAHSA first launched Quality First, it was a hard decision for us to sign the Covenant. We weren’t sure we had the resources to commit to the initiative because of our organization’s small size. All we could visualize was a long and difficult process.

But that was all before we started working with AAHSA and our Oklahoma state affiliate. Their encouragement and excitement for Quality First gave us the impetus to begin the process. We realized the value of Quality First and AAHSA showed us the direction we needed to take for it to make a difference at Daily Living Centers (DLC).

Our Quality First efforts caused a total environmental change at DLC. It positively impacted everything from our day to day operations to our vision for the future. To start, we assessed our personnel policies and rewrote them. Those new policies made our employee turnover rate drop to practically nothing.

Jerry Stewart answers calls for Daily Living Center. According to Bill, Jerry gives "our management a different perspective on our ideas because of his unique vantage point."

Implementing AAHSA Quality First also helped us involve our board and staff in ways we never dreamed. Now, staff and board members serve together on teams that tackle projects affecting both our quality of care and bottom line. Their results have made us more consumer-oriented and have increased our income dramatically.

It doesn’t seem like five years could’ve passed so quickly. It’s hard to imagine where we’ll be in another five years with Quality First. But it’s even harder to imagine where we’d be without it.


Bill Weaver
President/CEO
Daily Living Centers
Oklahoma City, Okla.