For more than 40 years Project Turnabout has been facilitating patient admissions for addiction recovery services.  During the last year we engaged in a quality improvement initiative to enhance our services to meet the growing needs of our patients, families and referents for admissions.  This initiative lead us to the expansion and changes in admissions and discharges processes.  

Marti Paulson, Director of Health and Intake Services facilitated a wrap-around approach towards achieving a successful and functional restructure of Project Turnabout’s Admissions Department. This approach included input and suggestions from the Project Turnabout Leadership Team, licensed counselors, referents, patients and family members.

“Our main goal was to find a way to surpass the expectations and needs of the patients, families and referents,” Marti said. “This new style to the department really achieves that goal and furthers our ability to accomplish our focus of serving the patient the best we possibly can.”

The new restructure of the Admissions Department included incorporating new visions and the enhancement of the current services that were already provided. These include:

• Restructuring the admissions process to include a comprehensive long-term plan from the point of intake; including the foresight for possible discharge options to be discussed with the multi-disciplinary team during the patients weekly individualized treatment planning.

• Adding to the admissions counselor staff.

• Expanding our services to include admissions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• Streamlining the transfer and/or discharge process if for any reason the patient for personal, medical, mental or physical reasons cannot remain in our facility.

• Increasing available time for the primary addiction recovery counselor to focus on patient needs and treatment services by reducing the amount of time needed for discharge planning.

• Performing courtesy Rule 25 assessments for counties.

• Performing all admissions for the Vanguard Center for Compulsive Gambling

• Performing scheduled evaluations for employers, health care professional services, and private needs or desires.

“It is important to understand that all changes were constructed to strengthen our continuum of care for our patients. We want to provide the best service possible from pre-intake to discharge and beyond,” said Marti. 

Marti continued to express her satisfaction towards the enhancement of Project Turnabout’s admissions and discharge process.  By removing barriers and enhancing the quality of the admissions process, patients are given the opportunity for a successful recovery.   “Someone is available to assist with admissions questions and calls around the clock every day. We welcome all calls and find that in most cases, instances that keep patients from receiving necessary treatment are artificial barriers we can easily overcome together.”

Project Turnabout’s Admissions Department is comprised of the Director of Health and Intake Services and three full-time Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselors. Together, the team offers a combined total of more than 40 years of addiction treatment experience. The department also works closely with the Nursing and Psychological Departments to ensure that Project Turnabout is an appropriate match for each patient’s individual needs.

Email the Admissions Department:  admissions@projectturnabout.org

Topic:  Growing Beyond Ourselves

Saturday, May 19 | 8:00 p.m. | Project Turnabout Gymnasium

Compelling and compassionate quadruple amputee speaks of determination and courage through her life-changing journey. Through her moving words, she is making a difference for others. 

In 1989, Jan was stricken with pneumococcal pneumonia.  First she started experiencing flu-like symptoms, but knew it was more serious when her fingers began to ache and the pain began to move through her body. She was taken via helicopter to Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis where she was put on full life support. Her family was told that she would not survive. She was in a deep coma for one week. Due to lack of blood circulation, her limbs developed gangrene and needed to be amputated. Throughout the ordeal, Jan never considered giving up. The first eight months of 1990 were spent at Sister Kenny Institute where she learned how to use her prosthetic arms and legs.  When she returned to Willmar, she continued her rehabilitation at Rice Hospital as an outpatient.  Jan was a music teacher at the Willmar Community Christian School before her life-changing illness. She continued teaching music for two years, but since she was unable to play the piano, trumpet and guitar with prosthetics, she decided to return to college and earn a degree in speech communications. Jan also became an ordained minister for interdenominational churches.

Quarterly speaker events are sponsored and hosted by Project Turnabout, Granite Falls, MN. Everyone interested in, living in, or supporting recovery is invited to attend. This is a free event open to the community. Please park in back parking lot. Refreshments will be served.

Project Turnabout's Fitness Facility (On Main Campus)

When entering into an addiction recovery program for chemical dependency or compulsive gambling, your body most likely is not performing to the best of its health abilities.

Recognizing the importance of physical activity, as part of a holistic approach to recovery, Project Turnabout incorporates daily physical fitness into each patients individualized treatment plan.

When you increase your physical activity, it can have a wonderful effect by decreasing your stress levels, relieving anxiety and promoting positive self image. These are all important aspects of successful recovery, both during and after a treatment stay.

Project Turnabout’s full-time Fitness Trainer, Dan Rorvik often hears first hand from patients how grateful they are for having physical fitness integrated into their daily schedules.

“Most of the time the patients disclose that they would have never tried to lift weights, engage in a walking routine or try different sports before they came to treatment and found out they actually love doing it,” Dan said. “It’s exciting to me to see the new or renewed love for physical fitness they leave with.”

Dan is an American Council on Exercise (ACE) certified personal trainer. He has been part of the multidisciplinary team at Project Turnabout for four years. As the Fitness Trainer, Dan works with patients in proper lifting techniques, identifying and overcoming problem areas, staying active at whatever level the patient may be, and promoting a variety of different activities to keep patients engaged in staying active.

“Fitness is so important for the patients we serve because it teaches them how to channel and relieve stress and anxiety in positive and healthy ways,” Dan said. “Participation in different games or sports promotes teamwork and communication they may have never engaged in.”

When patients prepare to leave Project Turnabout they are encouraged to continue incorporating physical fitness into their daily routines. Dan is available to help customize a fitness plan for each patient to take with them. Each patient is provided general fitness activities and stretch routines to bring with them upon discharge.

Continued physical fitness is encouraged for success in recovery and a healthy balanced lifestyle. We encourage everyone to take advantage of the changing seasons and get active outdoors playing sports or going for walks.

This accreditation represents the highest level of accreditation that can be awarded to an organization and shows the organizations substantial conformance to the more than 1,400 CARF Standards. An organization receiving the Three-Year Accreditation has put itself through a rigorous peer review process.  It has demonstrated to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit its commitment to offering programs and services that are measurable, accountable, and of the highest quality.

Project Turnabout is a not-for-profit organization with its main campus in Granite Falls, MN, and locations in Willmar, Marshall, and Redwood Falls.  It has been providing services since 1970.

CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served.  Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and now as CARF International, the accrediting body establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services.  For more information about the accreditation process, please visit the CARF website at www.carf.org.

For additional information, contact Mark Sannerud, Director of Development and Marketing/Outreach at Project Turnabout at 800-862-1453 or visit us at www.projectturnabout.org

1) Wear Green, Be Green
Everyone likes to wear green clothing on St. Patrick’s Day.  Why not go the extra step while wearing your green clothes?  Organize a local can and bottle collection recycling drive and donate the profits to a local non-profit/charity of your choice..  By collecting cans and bottles to recycle, you can ensure that less reusable goods are going to waste in a landfill, making Earth a cleaner, greener place for future generations. 

 2) Host a “Green Eggs and Ham” Brunch
Invite a group of friends over to enjoy a hearty brunch of Dr. Seuss’ famous “Green Eggs and Ham.”  You can even bring the kiddos along and have story time during breakfast; a fun, family activity for all.  

3) Get Crafty with Origami Shamrocks
Decorate your home or office in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.  You can even be “green” by creating origami shamrocks out of old newspapers, magazines, junk mail, or other paper you were going to recycle.  The paper gets another use and you get unique décor to enjoy.     

4) Enjoy the Outdoors
This year, St. Patrick’s Day is just three days before the first day of spring.  If the weather forecast is correct, it’s going to be in the 70’s this coming Saturday.  A little unusual for Minnesota in March – but we’re not complaining!  Find a St. Patrick’s Day parade in your area or have lunch at an Irish restaurant.  Leave the car at home and walk there.  Enjoying the “green” nature around you is the perfect way to celebrate any holiday – and on this particular one, you can also wear green while you do it. 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!    

Resources for this blog can be found at http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/7-tips-for-a-great-st-patricks-day

Speaker: Jolene E.
Topic: Living Life Sober
“With the stresses of life how do you deal with them and still stay sober? Living sober for 21 years teaches you sobriety has many benefits.”

This is a free luncheon/speaker event open to all women in recovery, interested in recovery, and others who could benefit from attending. For planning purposes, please confirm your intentions to attend by calling (320) 564-4911 or 1-800-862-1453 prior to 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 22, 2012. All guests are asked to park in the back (staff) parking lot and to enter the building through the back entrance into the gymnasium.

What people do not often realize is that there are a variety of funding options available to make the hope of recovery attainable for everyone:

- Funding may be available for Minnesota residents to cover as much as 80% of the cost for residential treatment
- Some insurance companies will now cover part or all of treatment costs
- Scholarships are available for those who qualify
- Payment options can be arranged prior to entering treatment
- Residential treatment does not cost as much as you might think

Since 2003, a total of $435,901.00 has been dispersed from the “Another Chance for Life” scholarship fund to help 480 compulsive gamblers and their families.  These funds not only directly impact the person needing scholarship assistance to receive treatment, but also indirectly impact that patients’ parents, siblings, children, friends, neighbors,  and employers by helping the patient get well.  

Project Turnabout raises money for the “Another Chance for Life” scholarship fund through a variety of ways:

- Through hosting the “Appetite for Life” gala event each year to help fund treatment for compulsive gamblers 
- Through Project Turnabout’s “Joy of Giving” Annual Appeal
- Through individual and organizational donations directed towards the “Another Chance for Life” scholarship fund
- Through planned giving options, including bequests, life insurance policies, retirement plan assets, gifts of real estate property, gifts of securities, charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, and a charitable lead trusts. 

If you would like to learn more about the funding available for treatment please contact our Patient Funding Coordinator at 1-800-862-1453.  To find out more about donating and how to become a part of the hope these patients and families need, please click here or contact Mark Sannerud msannerud@projectturnabout.org or Stefanie Ryan sryan@projectturnabout.org or call 1-800-862-1453.