Bennington Project Independence Inc.

“A draft of the tax return is reviewed by the organization's president with a final draft made available to the board prior to filing.”

“Conflict of interest statements are prepared annually by members of management and the bod.”

“Compensation of exec director: review by executive committee. Compensation approved by board as part of overall budget approval. Other compensation: executive director reviews and budgets compensation for all employees except herself. Executive committee reviews and budgets for the executive director's compensation using comparable data.”

“AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST”

“All board members are required to disclose any potential conflict of interest to the organization's president.”

“As part of a state grant for building construction/preservation, bpi has agreed to a conservation easement to maintain the historic structures within our facility. Bpi meets all requirements for historic building preservation.”

“Mission: to provide safe, caring and exceptional adult day care and health rehabilitation services. These services will offer meaningful, individually tailored programs and care designed to enhance the dignity, independence, joy and quality of life of older persons, younger adults with disabilities, provide support and respite for their families and caregivers and serve as an informational resource for our communities. Vision: to provide care options for individuals and families facing the challenges of aging and/or disability.”

“Services: building we continue to raise funds to address the lower, orchard level of the building to create a larger activity and programmatic area for our participants. It will also allow the entire building to be utilized in the event of a local emergency. The dr. Richard a. Sleeman center is pleased to be designated as an american red cross shelter for bennington county. Adult day service personnel: having the right staff is critical to the success of our adult day program. Families entrust the care of their loved ones to bennington project independence every day. Our staff tend to become an extension of family for many of our participants and their family caregivers. Bpi's staff includes an executive director who is qualified as an activity consultant certified and masters level expressive arts therapist; an administrative coordinator who is also our webmaster; a membership coordinator; a social worker; an activity coordinator who is an activity director certified and personal trainer; activity assistants; a health coordinator/registered nurse; licensed practical nurses; licensed nursing assistants; an administrative assistant; van drivers; a nutrition coordinator/cook; nutrition assistants; a housekeeper; a part-time facilities coordinator; and a part-time foyer greeter. Our staff is supplemented by assistance from a consulting bookkeeper, a certified public accountant, an art therapist, music therapist and a yoga therapist. In 2014-2015, bpi had 117 volunteers who donated 2,750 hours of service to our participants and our program. Bpi takes pride in its excellent staff-to-participant ratio and of all of the person-centered aspects of care and service. With our innovative and expanded adult day health facility, bpi's staffing needs have also increased. This has created more jobs for the local economy. We knew that with the facility expansion our personnel budget would need to increase also. Bpi has historically had an excellent history of long term staff retention. Multiple staff members have been with bpi 25 years or more. Staff are not just hired, they are added to our "bpi family" it generally takes about a year to truly learn the intricacies of the job and the person-centered philosophical foundation of our organization. All of our staff members are extremely caring, dedicated professionals who are cross trained to provide the utmost in flexibility and service provision for our participants and their families. All of our staff are also certified by the alzheimer's disease association in the cares approach plus advanced dementia care. With the dr. Richard a. Sleeman center as a substantial resource and with its professional and compassionate staff, bennington project independence continues its proud tradition of helping families share the care.”

“Health services: kitchens in designing our adult day center, the dr. Richard a. Sleeman center, the provision of fresh, high quality meals for our participants was paramount. Many of our elderly or disabled participants are no longer able to prepare their own meals and have nutritional issues that can affect their health. The food we serve for lunch at bpi may be the only well-balanced meal some of our participants have each day. The dr. Richard a. Sleeman center has a full-featured, modern commercial kitchen. We received design recommendations from several accomplished local chefs and restauranteurs. The result is an efficient and modern kitchen capable of feeding not only our participants but of serving several hundreds of people should our facility ever need to be used as an emergency shelter for our community. Bpi is also a congregate meals site for the southwestern vermont council on aging. This enables the public to be able make a reservation to enjoy lunch and the beautiful ambiance of the dr. Richard a. Sleeman center. Bpi has a talented nutrition coordinator who understands the unique dietary needs of older persons and younger adults with disabilities. Each day, our nutrition staff provide whatever dietary accommodation our participants' health needs requires (from sugar-free, to gluten free, to pureed, etc.). Bpi is committed to making well balanced, nutritious, home-cooked meals and healthy snacks. We supplement our menus with fresh vegetables from our own participant's garden. Our nutrition staff work closely with our activity program to ensure that our meals dovetail with the activity themes of the day. They complement each other beautifully and provide a flavorful addition. Besides the full commercial kitchen, bpi included a full residential-style kitchen that is completely handicapped accessible. The counters and sink can accommodate participants in wheelchairs. An induction cooktop was included to ensure the utmost in participant and staff safety in cooking. The country kitchen was designed to promote independence and safety. Our participants enjoy relearning or polishing up their cooking skills. Our homey country kitchen is a delightful place for our participants to relish the joys of home cooking and a place to share family memories and recipes. Having our own kitchen has been an incredibly positive addition to the services and comprehensive care that we are able to provide for our participants. Exercise: the fitness and wellness programs at bennington project independence are a part of a larger initiative to ensure that bennington project independence is also a resource for the entire community. Besides the stretch for health, walking clubs and individualized nustep fitness programs offered daily at bpi, we have several classes available to the public. One is our strength and balance class that is a free fitness class for the community conducted weekly at the dr. Richard a. Sleeman center. Though the original focus was for persons with parkinson's disease and other neuromuscular diseases, it has evolved into a popular option and enhancement to bone builders classes for adults in the community. This year, we have also added a healthy balance class aimed at fall prevention strategies for the more independent senior. This class has also received excellent feedback. Local physicians have referred their patients specifically to this class. Both of these classes were developed through healthy living grants from the southwestern vermont council on aging. Caregiver support bpi continues to provide a successful monthly caregiver gathering entitled "families together". This gathering differs from the traditional support group model with the premise of "when was the last time you laughed with a friend?" this group is open to the public and brings caregivers from all walks of life and levels of caregiving experiences together. The sharing, laughter and connections have been incredibly helpful to many caregivers and fami”

“Transportation: a major factor in the success of bpi's adult day program is the ability to provide our own personalized door-through-door transportation for our participants and families utilizing our own handicapped accessible vehicles. Our small fleet of three lift-equipped vehicles allows our expert transportation staff to be flexibly responsive to ever-changing participant, family caregiver and in-home service provider needs and schedules. Our highly trained drivers are sensitive to the needs of older and/or disabled persons. They are trained in passenger assistance, cpr and first aid. They provide a vital, personal connection between family caregivers and bpi. Our vehicles provide service for participants and families in the greater bennington and southshire area. We have a van replacement fund established to accept donations to assist us with replacing our oldest vehicle. We work with the local public transit provider, the green mountain express (gmc), to facilitate transportation for participants and families in the northshire area. This collaboration provides a hybrid of public and private service to ensure that everyone has access to safe and reliable transportation to and from our adult day program.”