Report On Ray Of Hope Inc. And LHIN

When it comes to mental health, almost 20% of Canadians experiences problems of mental health and illness each year. There are several healthcare facilities to support people with mental health issues. One such Health Service Provider (HSP) is Ray of Hope Inc. My inquisition about how and which organizations addresses such issues in Ontario led me to write about it.

Ray of Hope Inc. has been catering to the people of Waterloo region since 1967 in the addictions and mental health programs sector.

With a Vision of “People Investing in People ~ Inspiring Hope ~ Transforming Life. ” The organization’s Mission “is to demonstrate the love of Christ with those who are disadvantaged, marginalized, or troubled. ” The Values of Ray of Hope Inc. are based on an analogy between ‘The balm of Gilead’ and the services provided by organization; both of which serves as pain reliving medicament. It believes that outside wounds are apparent and treated with bandages and making stitches. But the wounds on the inside needs more care and understanding because when people go through situations like trauma, failing relationships, hardships; they usually lean towards habits like consuming alcohol and using drugs. Some are refugees who left their loved ones behind while others are poor or suffer from mental sickness. All of them has tremendous amount of pain in common and seek mental peace. This organization believes in emotional wellness and reaches out to provide the appropriate care.

Broadly speaking the organization aims to provide physical, emotional and spiritual support for their clients which mainly are: Youths addicted to drugs and substance abuse, youth offenders and unemployed youths. It caters services to refugees, teenagers and impoverished people in the communities as well. The organization also reaches out to parents and guardians to make them aware of interactive parenting methods, addictions and approaches to deal with addicted youths.

Health Care Services funded by LHINLHIN funds the health care services provided by the Ray of Hope Inc. which are: “Addictions Treatment-Substance Abuse, Day/Evening Addictions treatment, Residential Addiction-Treatment Services”. As per the agreement the services are provided in rural and urban regions of Waterloo, urban Guelph and rural Wellington within the LHIN. Additionally, it serves the other LHIN areas like Toronto Central (TC), Mississauga Halton (MH) and 12 others.

Accountability to LHIN

The organization is accountable to the LHIN for criteria including but not limited to the facilities, performance standards, digital health urgencies, abiding by rules, guidelines and standards, incorporation and reporting.

The organization provides the services as outlined in the agreement and as per the laws and policies framed, it reaches out to meet the performance standards mentioned in the Schedule D of MSAA. It is also accountable to assist the LHIN to meet provincial ‘Digital Health’ priorities. Also, the organization along with other health service providers and LHIN must recognize opportunities to provide timely, effective, comprehensive and integrated services. The reporting of organization’s involvement and integration of activities using the templates or in formats as given by the LHIN must be done whenever requested or as yearend report.

Funding from LHIN and Other Sources

From the year 2014 to 2017 the total LHIN funding received was as much as $1. 5 million. As per the new agreement which is effective from 2018 the funding has increased by almost $20, 000.

The organization also gets funding from other sources like government allocations, grants from HRDC and public donations made to the organization. It also generates its revenue from investments, café sales and rebates. The donations as per annual report in 2018 were approximately $8. 4 lakhs which is $18000 higher than last year. The government allocation in 2018 is about $6. 3 million, similar to that in 2017.

Organization’s performance obligations to LHIN

The organization is legally and morally bound to report to the LHIN about its performance during their agreement. Several indicators are used to show the performance such as part of budget disbursed on administration, provision of activity by “Functional Centre”, number of clients attended, predicting variations to actual spending and variation predictions to “Actual Units of Service”.

In my opinion, the organization helps the youth fight against and overcome the vices like addictions and crimes, get employed and helps them live a life with dignity and self-respect. Also, supporting the refugees and communities makes their services comprehensive. Thus, it takes care of the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of health which are generally ignored as indicators of well-being. This way it succeeds in providing holistic care with support from LHIN, community organizations and bringing in donations for the needful people.