Accra’s 245D Waivered Services Enable The Hogensons to Focus on Meaningful Family Time

Since 2016, Mary and Jim Hogenson have worked closely with Accra’s 245D Respite and Personal Support programs to build the best  plan of care for their daughter, Anna. However, their journey before partnering with Accra was not always as easy.

Jim and Mary were living in Chicago more than two decades ago when Anna was born into their family, and she was diagnosed on the autism spectrum. As Anna grew older, Jim and Mary sought support staff to help provide the daily care Anna needed, as well as support to reach the family’s goals. Over the years, it became increasingly difficult for the couple to maintain a balance between Anna’s care, time to enjoy with their daughter, and managing the day-to-day administrative tasks.

“Life before teaming up with Accra was much more complex,” Mary said. “For many years, when we worked with private support staff, we were responsible for training and payroll.”

At the time, Jim and Mary were responsible to ensure that each support staff member had the necessary and proper training required to provide the care and support Anna needed. For Jim and Mary, it was also important to train the support staff on Anna’s dreams and aspirations. Alongside training, the couple also had to juggle administrative duties, such as monitoring and tracking payroll and timesheets.

Since teaming up with Accra, Mary and Jim have been able to focus their efforts more on helping Anna live the life she desires. Accra’s person-centered framework to clearly establish and organize Anna’s needed supports and personal dreams, has enabled the family to work together to achieve her objectives.

“Jim and I provide daily care and any support needed to help Anna realize her dreams,” Mary said. “These personal dreams are all centered on and decided by Anna and are outlined to ensure her plan of care and our work together as a family helps her to work towards these dreams.”

Each year, the Accra team works with Mary, Jim, and Anna to determine Anna’s personal dreams and aspirations, and suggest steps they could take to help her realize them. For example, Anna recently stated that improving and strengthening her friendships was important to her. As a result, Mary and Jim worked with Anna to build activities, opportunities, plans, discussions and care which seek to further Anna’s relationships with her friends.

Accra’s 245D Respite and Personal Support services have also liberated Jim and Mary from the administrative responsibilities and have allowed them to truly focus on their daughter.

“The best thing for Jim and me about working with Accra is that they provide the support with training and payroll tasks. Accra’s 245D program requires initial and yearly program training for all providers,” Mary said. “Accra also communicates with all staff regarding timetables to meet requirements and provides the mandated training via an efficient online program, which has taken the responsibility and burden off our plate.”

Accra has also helped connect the Hogenson family with two trusted respite care providers, who are trained to support Anna and provide some time for Mary and Jim to recuperate.

“The training and payroll administration used to exhaust and distract us from Anna’s care,” Mary said. “Now, due to Accra’s support in the behind-the-scenes work and the addition of some respite care providers, we get to have more meaningful time with our daughter.”