EWorldWire, December 21, 2007, Friday

Copyright 2007 Comtex News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Copyright 2007 EWORLDWIRE

EWorldWire

This content is provided to LexisNexis by Comtex News Network, Inc.

December 21, 2007 Friday 5:30 PM EST

HEADLINE: Newly Elected CARF Board Of Directors Chair Susanne Bruyere Looks To Expand Standards And Ex-tend Reach Of Quality Services

BODY:
Members of the CARF International Board of Directors elected Susanne M. Bruyere, Ph.D., CRC, to serve a one-year term as board chair beginning January 1, 2008. At its November 29 meeting, the eleven-member board also reelected five board members to second two-year terms.

"CARF's engagement in current and proposed CARF initiatives for developing new standards and exploring new markets that will extend the reach of quality services is exciting, and I am delighted to contribute to these efforts," Bruyere said. "I look forward to working with the CARF Board of Directors and CARF staff in advancing these issues."

Since joining the CARF board in 1999, Bruyere has chaired its Employment and Community Services, Futures Perspectives and Finance committees. She is director of the Employment and Disability Institute at Cornell Universitys School of Industrial and Labor Relations in Ithaca, N.Y.

Bruyere succeeds Richard Forkosh, who was elected board chair for two consecutive terms in 2006 and 2007. Forkosh was seated on the CARF board in 2000 and chaired the first restructured eleven-member board in 2006. Forkosh will serve as past chair of the boards 2008 term.

During Forkosh's years as board chair, CARF launched the uSPEQ Consumer Experience and Employee Climate surveys, Standards Manager software, the Customer Connect Web portal for service providers, and a program of insur-ance discounts for accredited providers. CARF also began accrediting suppliers of durable medical equipment, pros-thetics, orthotics and supplies. During this time, CARF introduced new standards for dementia care, self-directed com-munity supports and services, crisis and information call centers, amputation specialty programs, supports for persons with autism spectrum disorder, integrated behavioral health/primary care, comprehensive benefits planning and mentor services. CARF's business practices standards were restructured into the ASPIRE to Excellence framework, an ac-tion-oriented approach to continuous improvement.

Reelected to the CARF Board of Directors for two-year terms beginning January 1, 2008, are members Kevin C. Baack, Ph.D., retired executive director of Goodwill Industries of Northern New England in Portland, Maine; Thomas J. Buckley, Ed.D., executive director of the Upper Pinellas ARC in Clearwater, Fla.; Cathy Ellis, PT, director of Physical Rehabilitation and clinical director of Spinal Cord Program at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, D.C.; Cheryl Gagne, Sc.D., CRC, senior training associate at Boston University's Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation in Boston; and Kayda Johnson, chief operating officer of Senior Resource Group in Solana Beach, Calif.

They will serve with the chair, past chair and board members Marvin Mashner; James T. McDeavitt, M.D.; Linda Kohlman Thomson, MOT; and Herb Zaretsky, Ph.D.

Serving in diverse health and human service fields, members of the CARF Board of Directors bring unique and valued experience to their governance role with CARF.

Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, CARF International is an inde-pendent, nonprofit accreditor of human service providers in the areas of aging services, behavioral health, child and youth services, DMEPOS, employment and community services, medical rehabilitation and opioid treatment program. The CARF family of organizations currently accredits more than 5,000 providers at more than 18,000 locations in the United States, Canada, Western Europe and South America. More than 6.5 million persons of all ages are served annu-ally by CARF-accredited providers.

For more information about the accreditation process, visit the CARF Web site at 'http://www.carf.org', the CARF Canada portal at 'http://www.carfcanada.ca' or the CARFaEUR"CCAC portal at 'http://www.carf.org/aging'.
HTML: http://www.eworldwire.com/pressreleases/18004
PDF: http://www.eworldwire.com/pdf/18004.pdf
ONLINE NEWSROOM: http://www.eworldwire.com/newsroom/308921.htm
RSS NEWSROOM: http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/xml/newsrooms/308921.xml
Source: CARF
Al Whitehurst
CARF International
4891 E Grant Road
Tucson, AZ 85712
PHONE. 520-325-1044

LOAD-DATE: December 22, 2007