Home Safety Visit Guide Now Available

The Agency is pleased to present staff a newly created Home Visit Safety Guide. This guide was developed to address questions from staff and regional directors and to improve the previous information in the staff handbook. The Home Safety Guide, which is archived on the Intranet > Human Resources > Health & Safety Information, is intended to provide tips and guidance for health and safety issues related to home visits. 

In the fall of 2013, at a professional development session for staff serving early childhood, questions and input were gathered. Through the reminder of 2013-14 school year, a group of volunteers participated in a Home Visit Safety Committee. The committee members were:

• Sandra Darveau, Early Childhood Special Education Consultant 
• Heather (Morphew) Nelson, Early Childhood Special Education Consultant 
• Chris Pierson, Regional Director 
• Julie Ridley, Early ACCESS Family Support Coordinator 
• Annie Volker, Early ACCESS Regional Coordinator 
• Linda Wegner, Special Education Nurse 

The committee reviewed questions from staff, identified gaps between current agency information and staff questions, researched practices in place by other human service institutions and wrote the manual to address the safety and health issues relevant to Heartland AEA staff who conduct home visits. Additional edits and suggestions were provided by: 

• Dave Wood, Regional Director 
• Wendy Robinson, Director of Instructional Services 
• Rachelle Dawson, Regional Director 
• Laura Gillon, Executive Director of Human Resources 

All staff and supervisors of staff who conduct home visits should become familiar with this information. Please remember: no policy, staff handbook or staff training will cover every contingency for the provision of safe home visits; however, the safety guide is intended to provide some of the big ideas related to home visit safety for Heartland AEA employees. Employees must always use their best judgment and be vigilant for their own safety.