HEAD OFFICE HIGHLIGHTS #120, 200 Quarry Park Blvd. SE, Calgary, AB T2C 5E3

Ph: 403-236-8802 Fax: 403-724-6110

October 2018

OPTIONS’ Office and Day

Program will be closed on

Monday, October 8, 2018

in observance of the

Thanksgiving holiday.

Will be on

Thursday, October 4th, 2018

PLEASE Remember to bring your Alberta Health

Care Card

Upcoming Courses:

Abuse Prevention & Response

Positive Behaviour Support Course:

- October 25, 2018 – Quarry Park Office

First Aid Course:

- October 20, 2018 – OPTIONS Day Program

*Please Contact Tanya to register for

courses

RETIREMENT OF DR. ALEX HILLYARD

Dr. Alex Hillyard, Regional Director of Disability Services in the Calgary

Region has announced his retirement effective September 28th, 2018.

Dr. Hillyard has played a significant role in the Calgary community.

Before he became the Regional Director of Disability Services he was the

CEO of the Calgary Region Community Board for Persons with Disabilities.

OPTIONS would like to thank Alex for his support of our work and for his

commitment to the individuals and families in the Calgary Community. We

wish Alex and his lovely wife Judy the very best in their future endeavors.

Now it’s time for them to relax and enjoy the fruits of their careers together.

We wish you the very best!

The OPTIONS Family

OPTIONS has thrived and grown because of teamwork. The relationships between the individuals we support, their

families and our staff have always been an inspiration to me. The past 6 months have been challenging for us as we

went through our CET Accreditation review in July. Preparing for it requires many meetings, development of new

policies, training of staff and providing information to the

surveyors in advance of their visit.

A HUGE THANKS to the amazing individuals we support who were willing to share their stories. To our

wonderful staff, leaders and families, thank you for supporting us in this endeavor and for helping us make such a

good impression on the survey team. Our survey went extremely well! HUGE THANKS to Derek Jassman, Sean

Yost, Bev LeBlanc, Leslie Aburto, Debi Lefaivre, Rebecca Huntley, Amanda Burns, Hannah Geake, Stacie Tidlund,

Luvene McIntosh, Christine Moussienko, Signe Selk, Marilyn Sveen, Kelly Hallewell and our friend and consultant,

Leslie Tamagi for assisting me.

Thanks also to Scott Blaskin, of Chinook Arch Photography who made a short video for our CET presentation and

who will be adding to it in the next few months. Scott has become very impressed with our individuals and staff and

may be volunteering to offer a photography class in the future. Please watch our website for further updates.

On top of that we also needed to finalize our Financial information for PDD and our bank by the end of June.

Besides CET, Tanya IDT our Human Resources Director, Kenna Aulakh our AP/AR Coordinator and our new Payroll

Administrator, Darlene Coutts worked many hours to ensure we met CET as well as the requirements of our

contract.

It is also important to acknowledge and thank Carlie Scucatto, our PDD Contract Procurement Specialist who played

an invaluable role in helping us through such a challenging time.

The following thoughts are transcribed from an inspirational speech given Angeles Arrien. I think it is indicative of

how OPTIONS works and supports each other in our success:

Update from Elaine

Update from Elaine cont . . .

Michelle Arnason, Part Time Accountant

Michelle joins the team with a wide range of experience in

both industry and public practice accounting. She is also

highly involved with CPA Western Canada teaching both

online and in person the CPA accounting courses. Michelle

loves to travel and often jumps on a plane the first chance

she gets to explore another city! She also loves to be active

which includes weight training, yoga, cycling and hiking in the

mountains with her 3-year-old Australian Shepherd.

Kenna Aulakh, Accounts Payable & Accounts

Receivable Coordinator – Part Time

Kenna joins OPTIONS with 5+ years of experience in the

finance field.

Kenna is married with 2 children. She enjoys reading,

baking and hanging out with friends.

Darlene Coutts, Payroll Administrator

Darlene has over 10 years’ experience in Payroll.

She has 2 dogs; Ruby is a miniature poodle mix

and Jessie is a Bouvier De Flanders

.

Darlene and her husband camp all year, and really

enjoy the outdoors. When they go camping, she

never gets tired of seeing the Wild Horses.

Darlene has volunteered at the Rockyview Hospital

Gift shop for over 12 years. She enjoys reading and

watching The Stampeders, Blue Jays and Flames.

Her favorite flower is the Sunflower.

Ruby the wonder dog

visits Darlene Coutts in

Payroll at our head

office in Quarry Park.

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT with Murray McNamee and Tony Dvorkin

Murray McNamee and Tony Dvorkin from DDD house picking up food hampers at the Interfaith Foodbank

and delivering them to Calgarians in need. Tony, Murray and their support staff (Helen Mosquera and

Ricelyn Abanilla) deliver food hampers each week to families in need.

Keep up the great work Tony and Murray!

There is a project to

design and paint the

utility boxes in

Calgary and Brian

Ehnisz was asked to

design and paint

one. His design can

be seen on the corner

of 94th Ave and

Bonaventure Dr.

SE. This was a project

between the

Indefinite Arts Centre

and a partnership

with the City of

Calgary Public Arts

program. Way to go

Brian!!!! If you are in

the area drive by and

see his work of art.

Special Events:

Wednesday September 19th was International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Murray

McNamee attended a special event downtown at Carya in East Village. Lots of

and fun and games were had by all those that attended.

There is a Chinese saying that goes: “If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a

day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.”

The Residential Leadership Team has gathered a small

group (Kim Wood, Geraldine Lalic, Arlene Aragon,

Rosalinda De la Cruz and family, Oxana Marteciuc, Bev

LeBlanc and family …as well as Jill Staines ) to serve

lunch at The Calgary Drop In Centre.

So far, this group has served/volunteered twice on

weekends, serving lunch to approximately 600-800

individuals.

We wanted to do

something

collectively as a

group to give back

to our community and select volunteer activities that draw upon our strengths.

In doing this volunteer work with The Drop In Centre, we are seeing that

communities where people are willing to look out for each other are stronger,

more stable and overall better

places to live.

Volunteering has given us the

opportunity to meet other people,

build a specific set of skills and is

helping us grow into better leaders.

We are seeing firsthand the level of

gratitude and humility that is

experienced at The Drop In Centre

every day.

The Power of Giving Back

to Your Community:

Written By: Bev LeBlanc Residential Director

Thanksgiving in Canada is celebrated on the second Monday of October each year. The first Thanksgiving holiday

was held in Canada in 1872 to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales from a serious illness. After 1879

celebrations were held every year but not always in October - it used to be observed around Armistice Day in

November.

The original idea is to give thanks for the past harvest season but for many Canadian families the tradition has

changed over time and the focus is now to get together with family and eat a large turkey dinner. Apple cider is a

must for any traditional thanksgiving celebration as well as turkey stuffing and pumpkin pie.

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