iCarol is your help line software company that is here to make your job easier as Executive Director or leader of a non-profit contact center. Whether you have a crisis, help or 211 referral line, we are here to help you help more people in your community. Read more…
Collaboration is becoming a necessary part of not-for-profit work. Ensuring a partnership is successful for everyone involved takes careful planning that starts long before you begin the work with your fellow collaborators.
The team at iCarol has been helping our customers have smoother collaborations since the software’s creation, through a variety of tools that include sharing resource database for the purposes of both maintenance and referral giving, contact form sharing to help with after-hours outsourcing and network building, and features like the Contact Record Outbound API and Resource API that allow data to be shared directly with other applications.
For several years, before they even worked for iCarol, Senior Product Manager, Crystal McEachern, and Director of Business Development, Polly McDaniel, have offered guidance on collaboration building at industry conferences. They have over 20 years of combined experience on both sides of collaboration—as I&R professionals working with their fellow non-profit organizations and as iCarol staff members helping customers build collaborations.
Now, you can learn from their expertise through an all new eBook authored by Polly and Crystal. In it, you’ll find step-by-step guidance on building a collaboration, including tips for the planning process and important things to consider that are often overlooked. Does the prospect of writing an MOU make your head spin? We have you covered! The eBook even includes a workbook for use in your own personal collaboration planning.
Best of all, the eBook is completely free — we’re sharing it with you in hopes our experience and guidance can help you successfully deliver services to even more people in your communities.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced a funding opportunity for research studies that examine how state Medicaid programs are using managed care payment and contracting strategies to address enrollees’ social needs; the ways MCOs are responding; and the effect of these activities on enrollees, plans, community-based organizations, and other stakeholders.
The deadline for letters of intent is July 2, 2019. Full proposals are due on August 12, 2019.
Health Affairs, a leading peer review journal of health policy thought and research, recently issued a request for abstracts on Integrating Health and Human Services.
Description from Health Affairs website:
Health Affairs is planning a theme issue on Integrating Health and Human Services, to be published in April 2020. We thank the Kresge Foundation for its generous support of this issue.
The social safety net includes a variety of health and human services programs that have the potential to improve health and promote health equity by meeting health and social needs and supporting economic advancement. Some of the major barriers to realizing the potential of these programs relate to gaps in coordination across sectors.
Our issue will explore collaboration between sectors that provide health and human services, with attention to infrastructure, policies, and practices within and across these sectors aimed at meeting the needs of the people they serve by reducing sectoral barriers.
We plan to publish approximately 20 peer-reviewed articles including research, analyses, case studies, and commentaries from leading researchers and scholars, analysts, industry experts, and health and health care stakeholders. We encourage author teams that include representation from multiple sectors/professions… Read More
The deadline to submit your abstract is June 24, 2019.
Recognition of the impact of social risks on health has spurred widespread interest in social risk screening across the US health care sector. Although the goal of this screening is to improve patient care and connect patients to resources to help address social risks, the sensitive nature of social risks raises concerns about the potential for screening to stigmatize patients and create opportunities for discrimination. To date few studies have evaluated patient perspectives on social risk screening. This SIREN webinar will present results of a new multi-site study (papers in progress) that examined the acceptability of the Accountable Health Communities (AHC) social risk screening tool among patients in diverse health care settings in nine states.
iCarol would like to extend our congratulations to our friends and customers at North Carolina 2-1-1, who were selected to receive Innovation Awards in the Disaster Preparedness category, and also voted the overall winner of the Innovation Awards. This was the first year for these awards, given by the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS).
NC 2-1-1’s submission stemmed from their experience as North Carolina’s disaster response portal, having experienced two major storms in two years’ time.
NC 2-1-1 first took on the role of disaster portal during Hurricane Matthew in 2016. During this historic storm and flooding that followed, many of the county’s 9-1-1 systems were knocked offline, causing residents to call 2-1-1 requesting life-saving intervention including water rescues necessitated by the flooding. This required quick thinking on the part of NC 2-1-1 staff and leadership to establish protocols in how to handle these calls and inform appropriate services to ensure the callers received appropriate assistance as quickly as possible.
While their quick action in the face of emergency surely saved many lives, there were some weaknesses in the process that became apparent. Namely, the 2-1-1 staff did not consistently receive follow-up or confirmation that NC 2-1-1’s referrals to emergency operations were successfully received and addressed, or that callers got the help they needed. In such high stakes situations, this added to the already heightened stress experienced by the 2-1-1 team during this disaster.
Post-disaster briefings provided both NC 2-1-1 and North Carolina Emergency Operations with the opportunity to talk through the situation that played out during Hurricane Matthew, and assess what should be done going forward to improve response during future disasters.
They decided that in future disasters they would implement changes, including:
The use of an internal web form by 2-1-1 staff that documents vital information about the caller, their location, contact information, emergency request, etc.
Completed forms would be sent directly to the Commander for Emergency Operations for distribution to the appropriate ground response team.
2-1-1 staff would receive immediate confirmation that transmitted forms were successfully received.
The new, formalized protocols that emerged during the post-disaster briefings were quickly put to the test when Hurricane Florence arrived in September of 2018 and some 9-1-1 systems experienced technical difficulties in the face of unforgiving wind and flooding. This time, the 2-1-1 staff felt there was more accountability in the entire process thanks in part to the ability to track the movement of referrals to emergency operations. Confirmation that life threatening situations were successfully handed off from 2-1-1 to emergency services also helped reduce stress on 2-1-1 staff and lessen any unease that might have previously come with the lack of closure they received regarding the 9-1-1 calls.
We are extremely proud of the efforts of North Carolina 2-1-1 for their leadership on the topic of Disaster Response and service to the residents of North Carolina before, during, and after natural disasters. Their Innovation Award is certainly well-deserved, and we look forward to seeing them presented with the award at the AIRS Conference this week.
On Wednesday and Thursday, April 24th and 25th Rachel Wentink, Vice President, Operations for iCarol, will be in Denver, Colorado attending the 52nd American Association of Suicidology (AAS) Conference.
The conference is a convergence of professionals working across the spectrum of the suicide prevention industry, from those operating crisis centers and other direct care services, to professionals working in academic settings conducting suicide prevention research, and advocates focused on education and awareness.
So we can continue to be aware and closely in touch with the topics that most impact iCarol’s customers, on Wednesday Rachel will attend the pre-conference program for Crisis Centers, followed by the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline update session.
Having supported crisis centers since the earliest days of the Lifeline network, and serving a large portion of the network that are iCarol customers, we have witnessed the Lifeline’s growth year after year, both in the number of participating centers and the volume of contacts the Lifeline receives through calls, chats, and other forms of communication. We suspect the update provided at the conference will show continued expansion in 2018. Unfortunately 2018 was another year with well-publicized deaths by suicide of a number of celebrities, including Kate Spade, Anthony Bourdain, and Avicii. These losses always result in a spike in volume and without fail the participating centers always step up to meet the challenge and provide help and hope to the people prompted to reach out for themselves or loved ones.
The Lifeline update also promises to provide information on developments in Lifeline initiatives such as Follow-up Matters and the Lifeline Safety Assessment. These and other projects directly inform iCarol’s strategy and product development in the coming months and years, which ensures we will continue to meet the needs of suicide prevention centers everywhere, providing the tools they need to do their life-saving work.
Finally, on Wednesday evening Rachel will attend the Crisis Centers Reception, which provides the chance to network and catch up with crisis center staff and leadership and hear all about the important work they are doing.
If you plan to be at the AAS Conference, Rachel would welcome the opportunity to chat with you about the needs of your suicide prevention service and answer your questions about iCarol. As always, we also welcome you to contact us at your convenience to share your challenges or projects and explore how iCarol can be of assistance.
iCarol Director of Business Development, Polly McDaniel, and Solutions Expert, Jordan Lemon, are attending the Aging in America Conference, presented by the American Society on Aging, from April 15th through April 17th in New Orleans, Louisiana.
This is iCarol’s first time attending this conference, and we currently serve many organizations in this industry, including Aging and Disability Resource Centers, Area Agencies on Aging, helplines that curb senior isolation and loneliness, and senior-focused information and referral services. These organizations choose our solution because we empower them to:
Invite and document contacts from clients and their caregivers over a variety of communication channels: phone, in-person, web forms, and our integrated Live Chat and Texting.
Encourage No Wrong Door initiatives by enabling them to securely send information to partners, make warm transfers, and dispatch additional services.
Create and curate simple to complex community service inventories to share with clients and caregivers by phone, email, Text/SMS, and during Live Chat sessions.
Share searchable resource information on their own public websites, or the websites of partners such as senior centers, local libraries, and hospitals.
Engage in ongoing client contact to track client history and progress, ensure needs are being met, and to document customer satisfaction and outcomes.
If you’ll be at the conference, please stop by and see the team at booth 604 so that we can discuss how iCarol can help you. If you’re not in New Orleans for the conference, we welcome those interested in learning more about the iCarol solution to contact us to ask your questions or have a quick meeting to talk about your challenges so we can see how iCarol might help.
Reposted with permission from the original authors.
Congratulations to Kelly Brown, Director of 2-1-1 Services at Interface, for being one of the “2019 Women of the Year” in the 19th Senate District and the 37th Assembly District, an honor bestowed by California State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson and Assembly member Monique Limón for her admirable 2-1-1 leadership in county and beyond, especially after last year’s tragic events.
Kelly is a nationally recognized 2-1-1 leader, sought after for her expertise and creativity. She’s tenacious, compassionate and oversees Interface’s dynamic 24-hour a day 2-1-1 Ventura operations. Kelly and her team has responded to countless local and national disasters, as well as the daily crises that flood into the 2-1-1 Ventura Contact Center ranging from serious domestic violence, homelessness and mental health crises. Our 2-1-1 Contact Center is growing as community partners see the huge value in leveraging 2-1-1’s reach and efficiencies.
Kelly will be honored together with Ventura County’s Kristin Decas of Port of Hueneme, Peggy Kelly from the Santa Paula Times and Jenifer Nyhuis of Vista del Mar Hospital during the 2019 Women of the Year Reception held on Friday, March 29th at Ventura County Credit Union in Ventura from 5pm-7pm.
When reached for comment, Kelly said:
“The work my team has done over the last couple of turbulent years has been difficult but the staff at Interface 2-1-1 have been able to rise up to meet the new challenges while maintaining the quality of our regular 2-1-1 work. I appreciate my Interface staff, our community partners, and our funders that have helped us to expand our range and reach in order to serve those that lost homes to disaster, and family members to violence.”
Each year, one of the largest gatherings of iCarol users takes place at the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS) Training and Education conference. As a part of this conference, iCarol holds an all-day User Group Summit the Sunday before the conference officially kicks off. At this Summit, we hold the traditional User Group meeting that covers company plans, ongoing developments, and strategies for the year ahead. However, our User Group Summit is a more than just the user group meeting. We also offer free, in-depth and hands on iCarol training so our customers can get even more value from their iCarol systems, and elevate their I&R and technical skills at the same time.
We’re in the process of planning this year’s Summit, but we’d really like to know — What do you want to learn about?
We’ve put together a brief survey so you can share your thoughts with us, which we’ll use to ensure the topics addressed in the Summit are suited to our customers’ needs. Don’t miss your chance to share your ideas, the survey will only stay open until the end of the day on Thursday, February 14!
Our customers take part in a variety of collaborative relationships with fellow not-for-profit agencies, governmental institutions, private companies, and others. This often requires sharing of information that they input and store in iCarol, and commonly includes (but isn’t limited to!) resource/referral information, or client interaction data collected in a Contact Record (aka Call Report Form). We heartily support such collaborations because they are the key not only to an agency thriving, but these partnerships also foster a continuum of care model that help create healthier, more connected communities. So we are always looking for ways we can encourage these partnerships and make them possible and easier to engage in using iCarol.
There are a number of ways our customers can share Contact Record data. Protecting confidential information is paramount and one should always be sure they are following their organization’s policies, protocols, and any pertinent regulations when sharing this data. Some examples of ways that our customers share Contact Record information include exporting data tables from iCarol to hand them over to a partner, printing records for faxing or hard copy delivery and storage, or using our Contact Record Outbound API to transmit data to their partner’s web service. The latest way we have enabled Contact Record sharing is be creating a feature that allows authorized personnel to send an encrypted email with a password protected PDF file of the Contact Record, right within the iCarol system.
Use Cases
In what scenarios might you want to encrypt and email a Contact Record?
When sending a warm referral to another agency
When sending Contact Records to a funder who requires a copy of the contact
While referring a Mobile Crisis Intake to a crisis specialist on duty
For sending the details of a high risk interaction to the counselor or supervisor on duty so they can follow up
Here are a few other highlights and things to know about this feature:
You control who can use it
Access is granted in a user’s Advanced Security Settings, giving you granular control over who can and cannot email Contact Records.
How to access
The ability to send a Contact Record by email will appear whenever you create a PDF of a Contact Record, whether it is a single PDF or a batch of PDFs compiled within the Advanced Search on the main Calls page. First you must request that the PDF be made.
Once you click the “Make PDF” button, the options to print the PDF or send it in an encrypted email appear.
Password protection
PDFs sent using this feature can be password protected so that the recipient must enter the correct password before viewing the PDF file, further securing sensitive information. The stronger and more complex the password, the better protection for your PDF to ensure only authorized recipients can view it.
Create a template
If the emailed Contact Records will regularly go to the same recipient(s), use the same subject line, body text, etc., you can create a template. This can save data entry time when preparing the email, and keep a consistent message if you are emailing records as a part of a specific contract or program at your organization. A single template can be created by taking the following steps:
From the left main menu of iCarol, click on ‘Admin Tools’
Click the ‘Calls’ tab
Click the link titled ‘Edit the template used for sending contact records by email’ and follow the instructions on the next page to create the template
Once the template is created, this information will be available automatically each time you create a PDF.
There are no additional costs to turn on and use this feature, it is included and available to all of our subscribers who use Contact Records. For more information, please see the Help Articles in the Help section of your iCarol system. If you have additional questions or need assistance, please open a case with the Support Team.
While their quick action in the face of emergency surely saved many lives, there were some weaknesses in the process that became apparent. Namely, the 2-1-1 staff did not consistently receive follow-up or confirmation that NC 2-1-1’s referrals to emergency operations were successfully received and addressed, or that callers got the help they needed. In such high stakes situations, this added to the already heightened stress experienced by the 2-1-1 team during this disaster.
“The work my team has done over the last couple of turbulent years has been difficult but the staff at Interface 2-1-1 have been able to rise up to meet the new challenges while maintaining the quality of our regular 2-1-1 work. I appreciate my Interface staff, our community partners, and our funders that have helped us to expand our range and reach in order to serve those that lost homes to disaster, and family members to violence.”
