The new head of Community Connections is taking over at a time when the agency faces a staff shortage and other challenges.
Tara Kiene started March 1 after the former president and CEO Julie Dreyfus stepped down to work for the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone.
Community Connections serves about 250 adults and children with intellectual or developmental disabilities across five counties in Southwest Colorado.
Kiene was promoted internally after working as the director of case management since 2003. She has been with the agency for 14 years.
“It has been kind of fun to take on some new challenges and do some new things within our organization,” she said.
Her nonprofit employs about 150 people, excluding those who contract with the organization to care for disabled adults in their homes.
Lately, it has been tough to fill positions, a problem facing many organizations in Durango and other areas.
“It’s going on nationally, and if there was an easy answer, someone else would have probably already figured it out,” she said.
To help ease the shortage, she is working on some internal restructuring and with human resources to tackle turnover.
The way the organization provides care also is shifting because the state is working to come into compliance with federal requirements and introducing new models that allow patients to direct care.
One challenge is a federal requirement to separate case management and the care providers. Community Connections provides both and that is more efficient in rural areas, Kiene said. The state is applying for an exemption for rural organizations.
Community Connections also is providing caregivers with more respite time.
“That has been communicated as a huge need,” she said.
It focuses mostly on families caring for someone with a mental disability, but also provides time off to contractors.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
Tara Kiene writes the Creating Community column for The Durango Herald.
