Spectrum’s Accreditation Project has begun and will be a focus for the whole organization over the next 15 months as we prepare for a complete survey of our services in March 2006.

What is accreditation?

It is a way to demonstrate that we are providing services of a consistently high quality.  This is demonstrated by conformance with standards established by CARF.

What is CARF?

CARF is a private nonprofit organization that accredits organizations like Spectrum that provide community living services.  The CARF standards are applied through a peer review process to determine how well and organization is serving the people it supports.  We chose CARF because its core values are a good match for Spectrum and because the standards are flexible enough to encompass the diverse range of services we provide.

Why accreditation now?

The B.C. government needs to be accountable to taxpayers.  They see accreditation as one way to show that the money spent on community living is money well spent, that services are being monitored and continuously improved, and that people receiving these services are satisfied with them.  Other publicly funded organizations like schools, hospitals and universities are also required to be accredited.  All community living organizations with government contracts over $500,000 per year will be required to achieve successful accreditation by September 2006 in order to continue providing services.

What happens now?

Spectrum will be hiring a full-time person to assist with some of the data collection to help us prepare for accreditation.  Everyone at Spectrum will be involved in the accreditation preparations, from participating in planning meetings to helping gather relevant information and possibly being part of an on-site review.  We will be having a “mock survey” in September 2005, which is like a dry run through the whole review process. 

The more you get involved and understand the process, the more confident you’ll feel when the surveyors arrive next spring.  For more information, or to find out how you can be more involved with Spectrum’s accreditation project, please contact Susan, Ernie or Aaron at the office (604-323-1433).  We’d be happy to answer your questions, or you could come in and have a look at the CARF standards manuals, which we have at the office.