Manassas, Va. (November 19, 2020) – Didlake Inc., a Virginia-based non-profit that connects people with disabilities to employment, education and opportunities throughout the National Capital region, recently earned its eighth consecutive accreditation from CARF, an international, independent nonprofit accreditor of health and human service agencies providing rehabilitative services. The accreditation, awarded August 18, is for Didlake’s community and employment services in the areas of job development, community integration and employment planning services.
“We are happy to report that Didlake received another three-year accreditation from CARF, Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. CARF standards represent best practices in running an organization such as ours,” said Donna Hollis, Didlake CEO.
CARF accreditation recognizes Didlake’s commitment to continuous quality improvement, stakeholder satisfaction, and improved organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Didlake earned three-year accreditation, CARF’s highest level accreditation, demonstrating substantial conformance to CARF standards. As an employment services vendor for the Department for Aging and Rehabilitation Services, Didlake is required to maintain CARF accreditation. Didlake elects to also apply CARF standards to its day support program. This achievement marks 21 consecutive years of accreditation for Didlake, but the process was anything but ordinary.
“Because of the pandemic, we were unable to have our in-person survey and instead the survey was held virtually in Microsoft Teams. That had a significant impact on how we prepared for the survey. It was a pivot, like everyone has to pivot in everything these days. As extraordinary as it is, it’s ordinary now,” said Lynda McPherson, Business Process Analyst, who coordinated documentation collection and survey scheduling for Didlake’s CARF team.
During the survey, CARF surveyors recognized Didlake for its response to the pandemic: “Didlake has demonstrated remarkable resiliency and strong crisis management skills in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the organization by staying current with quickly changing information from government and other sources…” The surveyors also acknowledged Didlake for strength in strategic planning, board engagement, financial management and use of technology, among other areas.
Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, CARF International assists rehabilitation service providers in improving the quality of their services, demonstrating value, and meeting internationally recognized organizational and program standards. The accreditation process applies sets of standards to rehabilitation service areas and business practices during an on-site survey. Accreditation, however, is an ongoing process, signaling to the public that a service provider is committed to continuously improving rehabilitation services, encouraging feedback and serving the community. Accreditation also demonstrates a provider’s commitment to enhance its performance, manage its risk and distinguish its service delivery.
“CARF is an industry-recognized baseline. It is our foundation, but there will be times when we want to go above that,” McPherson said. “We always do what we consider to be best practices.”
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About Didlake®
Didlake is a non-profit rehabilitative services organization headquartered in Manassas, Virginia. It was founded in 1965 to create opportunities for people with disabilities through services that connect them to employment, education and the community. Through its Day Support, Employment Services, and Workforce Support and Development program, Didlake serves over 2,000 people with disabilities annually throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Didlake is licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia, accredited by CARF, is CIMS-GB-certified, and proudly serves the nation through the AbilityOne® program. For more information, visit www.didlake.org.
About CARF
Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, CARF International is an independent, nonprofit accreditor of health and human services. The CARF family of organizations currently accredits more than 60,000 programs and services at more than 28,000 locations. More than 14 million persons of all ages are served annually by more than 8,000-plus CARF-accredited providers. CARF accreditation extends to countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. For more information, visit http://www.carf.org
