october newsletter • 2008 community catalysts of california employee anniversaries 16 years Margie White - SM 7 years Randy Denton - UK Stephanie Hernandez - MCD 6 years Jennifer Mansfield - SC 5 years Patricia Hazen - MDO JoAnn Holliday - UK 3 years Lydia Melendez - SAL 2 years Emanuel Encarnacion - MCD Lisa Resendez - MCD Bradley White - STK 1 year Timothy Gaston - FSO Maria Lopez - FSO Janeen Peterson - UK Rocio Renteria - EC Jessica Young - SM consumer anniversaries 18 years Martin P. - SM 16 years Chris A. - SM Jack B. - SM 14 years Ramiro S. - FSO 12 years Soua Y. - FSO 10 years Earl L. - SC Jeffrey S. - SC Rebecca C. - FSO 9 years Douglas R. - SD 7 YEARS John R. - COAL 6 YEARS Norma R. - EC Tracy M. - STK 5 YEARS Angela A. - FSO 4 YEARS Lucinda J. - MCD 3 YEARS Katherine B. - SM Antonio P. - SC 2 YEARS Debra M. - STK David Reiter - MCD 1 YEAR Christina L. - EC Rudolfo L. - SD Rachel M. - SC Aidie E. - SAL Trisha C. - MCD Jay C. - MCD Rebecca B. - SC Raymond R. - EC southern california san marcos • san diego • el centro san marcos Sunshine & Good Company San Marcos had a great turn out in August for our Annual Advisory “Pot Luck at the Beach”. Staff and clients enjoyed the fantastic weather and the fabulous food. A few clients got their feet wet and everyone enjoyed talking with one another. The cool beach air was a nice break from the excessive heat in our area. In September we went to the Padre’s game. Our clients learned how to use the Coaster Train, which runs from North County to Downtown San Diego, and the trolley which dropped us off almost at the front door of Petco Park. SL consumer Wayne and his support staff Jessica Young enjoyed our fantastic seats! SL Consumer Jack who recently moved into his first apartment, held an open house and invited a group of friends, staff and neighbors. He is very proud of this accomplishment and we were happy to be there to help him celebrate! We train our perspective staff at a young age. Employment Specialist Margie White’s 3 yr. old granddaughter Jade and 3 other students have been chosen by their preschool to assist as mentors and role models for a group of preschool children with developmental disabilities who are getting ready to enter kindergarten. Jade will meet and play with the other children in the hopes that the children with disabilities will see how she acts and follow her lead. What a fantastic chance for both Jade and the other students to learn from each other! August was the time for Case Managers to take a break and spend time relaxing. SE Case Manager Teri Geston spent a week hiking in Yosemite and visiting Reno, NV where she was able to view some unbelievable classic cars at Reno’s annual “Hot August Nights”. IL/SL Case Manager Teresa Grenawalt spent a week in Oregon with her family and came back with a new car! The saga of the coffee cart continues. A big “THANK YOU” to San Diego Regional Center for carving out a special area for our cart at their main office in San Diego. They poured a new foundation and ran utility lines to our cart to assist us with getting this new project running. san diego/san marcos At a recent Coffee Cart Committee meeting our clients came up with the official name for our new coffee cart. It will now be called “Community Coffee Creations”. Regional Manager Sherie Kainz and SE Case Manager Jessica Young have put in countless hours cleaning and getting our cart ready for business. SE Employment Coordinator Ron Clayton will be assigned to train and assist our consumers whom we will be hiring to man the coffee cart. The month of September has been a very busy time for the San Diego and San Marcos staff of Community Catalysts. “Community Coffee Creations”, is headed towards the final stages of development and is projected to be operational sometime in October. So if you are in the San Diego area, please come by the San Diego Regional Center between 7:30am-1:30pm to see the cart and to also try one of the delicious drinks and snacks offered! Thank you all for your efforts and support. J.K.S._08/08 el centro The El Centro office has beat the heat by conducting business as usual. As our office continues to grow we would like to welcome our new consumers: Deborah B., Sally P., and Israel A. We would also like to send a big welcome to our new Direct Service Aide, Everardo Cazares. Our office is transforming inside and out! Not only are we growing, we have given ourselves a face-lift by painting the walls, adding new fixtures, new window coverings and new carpet. The advisory group did take a break during the heat but they will be back and strong as ever, starting in October. north valley stockton • modesto stockton The North Valley Living Programs weathered the storm as CARF Surveyor’s swept through our area. After many months of preparations and “mock” run throughs, we are happy to say that the CARF winds swept through our area relatively smoothly, leaving only minimal damage from it’s two day visit (just exhausted employees)!! It seems that no matter how well we prepare for these things, there’s still always that anxiousness that carries through until the tail lights of the last surveyor rental car pulls out of the driveway at the end of their visit. The assigned surveyors were very nice and we enjoyed meeting them. We are happy to announce that our hard work payed off and we earned our three year accreditation! Thanks to everyone who helped us over the past months in preparing for the survey. We appreciate the teamwork that we have in our Stockton and Modesto programs, as our work could not be done without each person involved. Stockton ILS consumer Elbert S., was recently surprised at a VMRC Board meeting with the presentation of an award for recognition of his success of living independently in our community. Elbert, who is a VMRC board member and attends monthly meetings regularly in our area, was extremely surprised when he received the plaque. In his own words, Elbert laughed as he stated, “I was SO very shocked that I thought I was gonna pass out on the floor!” It was great to hear the pride and excitement in his voice when he called to share the good news with us. Elbert, who usually is not a “picture person” as he says, was very eager to let us get a close-up shot of him with his plaque, which we helped him frame to hang on his apartment wall to admire and remind him of his success. We are very proud of him and remind him that even without the award, we and others are proud of who he is and the life that he lives everyday. The honor of the plaque just confirms it! Way to go Elbert!! Congratulations to new homeowners, Philip Henry and Family and Jessica Ramos and Family. Philip’s family recently purchased a home in the Salida (Modesto) area, and Jessica’s family bought their home in Stockton. Our best wishes to all of them as they transition to their new residences and experience the delightful task of moving! modesto Christina Coonfield, a Modesto Direct Service Aide, is also Modesto area’s Advisory Assistant. She has been working extremely hard this last year raising money for the consumers with their goal being a trip to Disneyland! She has planned yard sales, car washes, a spaghetti feed, sold jewelry, beef sticks, magazines and entertainment books. As you can see by the picture, there is a ton of paperwork involved in Advisory and Christina puts in a lot of time and energy. We all thank you Christina and wish you and the Advisory Committee the best on reaching your goal. Also, a big thank you to all the staff who have put in many hours to help in all these fundraisers. Jan would like to thank all the staff for their help and hard work in preparing for CARF in September. central valley fresno • merced fresno Central Valley Regional Manager Shelley Cook and her husband returned back from a three week cross country vacation in Indiana, Georgia, Tennessee, Denver and Mississippi. The scenery was beautiful and so green! Shelley even fed “pet” deer and fawns in the back yard of the families mountain cabin that they stayed in. The end of the trip was challenging with multiple cancelled flights and locating the last rental car to drive home thanks to Hurricane Gustav, Hanna, and Ike. So Shelley and her hubby are just glad to be safely home and back to work! A big thank you to Elizabeth Espinoza for holding down the fort while Shelley was gone! merced Nicole Dahlgren and Stephanie Hernandez attended a Community Involvement Fair at the University of Merced. There they interacted with the students and faculty giving them information on our company and discussing volunteering options. The Social Recreation group went to The Hilmar Cheese Factory. There they befriended the staff, enjoyed the sampling of cheeses and watched a movie on the process of milking and making of cheese. After all the fun at the cheese factory, the consumers enjoyed lunch at the park there in Hilmar. The social recreation group also enjoyed the Fall Festival in Atwater. There they visited the many booths, a selected few got to climb the ARMY rock wall and the entire group got ARMY dog tags. They also received a lot of free items being handed out at the fair. The Merced Office would like to WELCOME BACK MRS. SHELLEY COOK from her vacation. We all missed her and are glad she made it back safely. south bay/Redwood coast salinas • santa clara • ukiah salinas It has been a quiet month here in Salinas. The hot summer sun is slowly fading away and the crisp fall air is moving in. Congratulations to Mayra Barocio for receiving the Catalyst P.R.I.D.E. Award for the month of September. Keep up the great work! Happy Birthday wishes to Jeannie Leauma and Izabella De Leon (Maria De Leon’s daughter), who just celebrated her FIRST BIRTHDAY this month! Thank you to Maria De Leon for decorating our office for Halloween (five weeks in advance)!!! santa clara The Santa Clara and Salinas offices got together for the privilege of a visit with Jayme Dix, our Human Resources Assistant from the corporate office. The purpose was a training meeting for reviewing procedures for everything from hiring to terminating. She updated us on new forms and policies and procedures for 2008 and how to implement them. It was nice to see new faces and to finally meet with the lady we fax and email so often! It was a very well organized and informative presentation. Thank you Jayme! We are very happy about receiving the new vehicles that are available for ILS Services. Denise Mansfield and Jeannie Leauma drove together for a ways, bringing two of the cars up from San Diego. The Nissan is already well in use here in Santa Clara! We anticipate it will be a great help to the DSA’s for ILS transportation needs and look forward to using the van as well. We in Santa Clara bid a sad farewell to Jou Chen who is leaving us to move to the Sacramento area. She will be sorely missed! At the same time, we want to bid a warm welcome to Carrie Gonzales our newest Direct Service Aide. We are glad to have you on board! ukiah Even though September was a short month, it was jam packed full of exciting events!! CARF came and went and turned out to be a very pleasant experience. Many consumers are enjoying the Special Olympics Bowling. This is consumer Diana’s first time participating. She is enjoying herself and getting a lot of strikes! A large group of consumers and staff attended the Fabulous Flashback car show. Some were very interested in the cars, others were more interested in buying soda and snacks. Everyone got dressed up and went to the Prom held by RCRC. They enjoyed dancing, snacks and visiting with friends. We were lucky enough to get these wonderful pictures of Diana D. from Plum House and David S. from SLS. Happy Birthday to Ronald and Patsy Allen, Laura Cole, and Eddie R.! Congratulations to our Safety Incentive winner Kim Rodallegas!! national breast cancer awareness month http://nbcam.org/ Early detection as well as educating yourself about breast cancer can be two of the best possible “medicines” toward fighting the disease. And if you or someone you know has survived breast cancer, it is just as important to know your risk of recurrence, or the return of the disease. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women, and breast cancer recurrence is possible even in women who have had a mastectomy (or breast removal). Promote breast health using key dates. Since the American Cancer Society recommends that women begin to conduct monthly self-breast examinations at age 20, mark a date on your calendar each month for a self-exam. Women in their 20’s and 30’s should also have a clinical breast exam as part of their regular exam from a health expert. At age 40, women should begin annual mammographies, or as recommended by your physician, and yearly clinical breast exams by a health expert. These may be scheduled around a special date such as your birthday or an anniversary. Women under 40 with a family history of breast cancer should consult their health care provider, who may stress the importance of appropriate screening and early detection and when to begin mammography. Make things easy with a routine shower check. As a regular activity, when you’re in the shower, check your breasts for any changes. Some of the most common signs of breast cancer could be the appearance of a lump or a change in breast size or shape. Look for changes in the color of your breast as well as skin changes (scaly or itchy areas, dimpling, and puckering) or a new pain in one spot. Any change from what is normal should be reported to your doctor. Keep in mind that while some people experience clear physical symptoms or warning signs of breast cancer, others with breast cancer do not. That is why screening is so important. For more information on self-breast examination and downloadable breast selfexamination shower cards, visit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Web site at www. komen.org or call 1-800-462-9273. Guard against recurrence. Even women who have already battled breast cancer are at risk for a recurrence. A recent survey by a world-renowned polling institute revealed that 30 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer don’t believe there is anything they can do to lessen the likelihood of a breast cancer recurrence. But the truth is there are things you can do to reduce your risk of recurrence. Talk with your doctor to understand what treatment regimen is best for you. According to the American Cancer Society, about 77 percent of breast cancer diagnoses occur in women age 50 and older. Women with early breast cancer are at their greatest risk of disease recurrence during the first five years after diagnosis. Therefore, the treatment received during these first five years is most important in preventing a recurrence. As scientists continue to search for a cure, their advancements in creating treatments such as aromatase inhibitors have been shown to lower the risk of having the cancer come back and lower the risk of new breast cancers for many women. Exact treatment for breast cancer varies from woman to woman, so discuss with your doctor which options would be effective in treating your cancer. Become more savvy about breast cancer Finally, become better educated about breast cancer. Although October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, NBCAM wants to remind everyone that breast cancer awareness is important all year long. For more in-depth information on breast cancer, visit the newly redesigned National Breast Cancer Awareness Month Web site at www.NBCAM.org. Early detection as well as educating yourself about breast cancer can be two of the best possible “medicines” toward fighting the disease. /// Make Breast Health A Year-Round Concern. To help prevent breast cancer, women should: Conduct monthly self-breast • examinations starting at age 20. Get mammograms regularly, preferably • once a year, starting at age 40. Ask a doctor whether more frequent • screenings are necessary based on family history. Log on to www.NBCAM.org for additional information about breast cancer. article from: http://nbcam.org/media/ha1578.pdf mayra barocio Community Catalysts of California is proud to announce that Mayra Barocio was selected to receive the Catalyst P.R.I.D.E. Award~Leading by Example for September 2008. Mayra has only been with Community Catalysts of California for about 4 months, however she has already made a great impact worth recognizing as a Direct Service Aide for the Independent Living Program in the Salinas area. Mayra is being recognized for going above and beyond in her service to her consumers. She has already begun to develop strong working relationships with her consumers, her co-workers and her supervisors. Mayra has shown that this is more than a job to her and that she truly cares for her consumers. She takes the time to help them understand why the goals they are working towards are so important and has shown a great deal of respect and compassion for those she works with. Mayra has also displayed excellent ongoing communication with her supervisors and within the office. She calls on a regular basis and comes in to the office in order to stay on top of any changes and to be available if needed. We appreciate the great service and dedication to the vision of Community Catalysts of California that Mayra has provided and would like to recognize her for her hard work and for Leading by Example. Thanks for Leading Us In the Right Direction! Consumer Catalysts of the Month October 2008 John Maffucci, Jr. John has been with Community Catalysts of California since September of 1992. He is in our Supported Employment Program in the San Marcos area. John has made some amazing accomplishments in this time. In fact, he is celebrating his 20th year at Bob Baker Chrysler this month! He is a true example of success! John works full time as a Service Lot Attendant. He does a fantastic job and is well liked by his co-workers. John is very friendly and enjoys spending time with people. He loves shopping, especially with his sister. He also has a good friend named Terry that he likes to spend time with. John’s special talent is singing. He even sings in the choir at his church! His other favorite activity is bowling on Saturdays. He really enjoys life and having a good time! Working at the same job for 20 years is such an amazing accomplishment that we really wanted to recognize John for all his hard work and dedication and that is why he has been chosen as the Community Catalysts of California Consumer of the Month for October. Congratulations John!