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“ These programs make the transition from a hospital setting to their own living quarters much easier for the mentally ill,” says Deb Lang, administrator of Hillcrest-Highland Place. “This really helps them to be more successful when they eventually begin to live their lives as part of the larger community.”

Serving people with severe problems
The PMI facility serves clients with the most severe problems - people who had previously been living in hospitals or at one of the state’s mental health institutes. They receive a high level of care which serves to provide them with a safe environment as they learn to cope with the various nuances of everyday life. With an average length of stay being about a year, individuals are prepared to take the next step toward living in the community. That next step is entering the RCF facility, which allows them more time on their own in a less-restrictive environment. Clients participate in a Work Services Program, which helps them develop the structures in their lives needed to work and help support themselves once they move to their own homes or apartments. Although both the RCF and PMI programs utilize the same building, a separation is maintained between the two programs.

Hillcrest-Highland Place also collaborates with Indian Hills Community College and Ottumwa Community College. The Indian Hills school has an educational site at the facility, where clients can be involved with such activities as preparing for their GED exams. Nursing students from the Ottumwa Community College spend time with residents of the facility, helping provide care as they learn the basics of relating to individuals with mental illness.

Washington County Mental Health Center
“Our program is showing lots of positive growth,” says Stacy Gray, Therapist at the Washington County Mental Health Center, which is operated by Hillcrest. “We’ve been involved in lots of community outreach, and I believe word is spreading about the quality of services offered here.”

Collaboration is also important to the staff at the center. They work closely with local schools to provide psychiatric and therapy services when needed, and are helping educate local members of the clergy on the steps needed to access mental health services. The center is also making an effort to get therapists from different agencies working more closely together to ensure that people will receive the services they need on a timely basis.

To commemorate National Depression Screening Day on October 9, the center has recently pulled together other community health providers to do depression screening on that day, and have made special attempts to recruit the elderly.

Because the center is located in a largely rural area, it is also natural for them to reach out to rural residents who have experienced problems related to the farm crisis.

Lots of effort is also being expended to serve the large Hispanic population in the area. Steps are underway to ensure that materials are translated into Spanish for this population. In addition, the Psychiatrist working with the center, Dr. Okiishi, is fluent in the Spanish language.

These statements are more than mere letters on paper. They reflect who Hillcrest is, what Hillcrest does, and why Hillcrest has been serving people since 1896. The words of the Mission Statement are a reflection of the unwritten mission of Dr. Nancy Hill and the brave people who started the Industrial Training School for Girls in the very late 19th Century. The words of the Mission Statement are also a challenge to everyone who serves at Hillcrest to provide the means for people to enhance their own lives.

The new Vision Statement now tells what we want for the people we serve as compared to what we want from those who serve. It is a simple vision but it focuses on the three goals that every person and every family that comes to Hillcrest should expect.

The Values Statement identifies the core values that will guide our service to others. It provides a scorecard for our daily interactions. As with any entity having so many human components, we may sometimes fail to live according to these values, but the staff of Hillcrest are committed to starting over each new day with a commitment to serve people the way we wish to be served.

All of these statements also reflect the roles that you have with Hillcrest. The services of Hillcrest would not be available without your direct and indirect help. I would like to stress the role of advocacy that you can play in the lives of the people we serve. There are many opportunities for you as a citizen of your city, county, state and nation to advocate.

“We have a fabulous staff and we are all involved in a lot of new initiatives this year,” she says. “It’s impossible not to be excited about what’s happening at our school.”

The school staff, a high percentage of whom have returned from last year, now includes an administrative assistant, 10 full-time teachers and 30 teacher associates (as well as 5 on-call associates). Christine points out that the teachers have worked on a number of different assessments for every student, including important assessments on each child’s learning style in order to teach to their strengths.

The new initiatives referred to by Ms. Davis include the following:

On July 24, Dakota became the first baby born to a Hillcrest transitional housing resident. Kelly and Dakota are both healthy and safe.

$20,000 from the John T. Bergstrom Fund, Neenah, WI, for new kitchen equipment. This grant was awarded as part of our Help for Today, Hope for Tomorrow Capital and Endowment Fundraising Campaign.

While there, we invite you to check out some of the other areas of our site, including:

The CRT makes it possible to increase the yield of certain types of assets (resulting in an increase in income), reduce both income and estate taxes, conserve estate value for heirs, and fulfill philanthropic desires. The degree to which the CRT performs in each of these areas is based on your objectives. If increased income is of primary importance, the Remainder Trust can be structured to meet this need. Where future provision for children (or grandchildren) is the desire, a planning professional can show you how to create a CRT that ensures this objective. And this only scratches the surface of the flexibility of the Charitable Remainder Trust.

The SmartPlan In Action
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