Care and Support For our Residents

Once we make a commitment to support someone, we do everything possible to continue that support. In the event that an individual needs to go to the hospital, ACR typically provides 24-hour staffing at the hospital; even though we are not reimbursed for this cost, we have learned over the years that we need to be there to advocate for the people we support when they are most vulnerable in order to ensure their well-being. If a person’s medical needs increase, we do our best to accommodate him/her within the same home or in another ACR home. In several cases we have developed new homes around someone we support when necessary care could not be provided at their home (for example, people who need insulin who were not able to receive it in an ICF were moved to an SLS which we developed for them). We recently opened an Alzheimer’s home to accommodate four people we were serving in other homes who were no longer a good fit with their housemates. We chose to pursue a new development to support these people in all phases of their lives.

We carry out objectives for each individual based on their needs and interests, and we utilize “Person Centered Planning” as a tool to help people lead satisfying lives. We have found that people with disabilities often miss out on major life events such as confirmations, graduations, and marriages; therefore, ACR works hard to plan and provide exciting events that people with disabilities can look forward to. We work with the people we support to help them realize their own goals. We provide dances three to four times per year, and plan both small and large trips. Many people will save up money for camps, for weekend trips to Duluth or the Wisconsin Dells, or for longer trips to Florida, Nashville, California and the like. We also try to connect people from different homes who have similar interests for day-to-day activities as well as for trips.

ACR is well-known for its high-quality care and receives many favorable comments from the case managers and guardians with whom we work. For example, a case manager from Dakota County stated that she likes to get her clients in ACR homes because our high quality care makes her job so much easier. Many case managers and licensors also comment on how our homes are decorated and maintained to reflect the individual interests and tastes of the people who live there. We have been very successful in becoming a part of the neighborhood in the communities where our homes are located.