Peggy Revell
The Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board is inviting the public to check out its newly-renovated office at 450 Scott St. during an open house slated for this Friday (Nov. 14) from 1-4 p.m.
“Anyone who’s ever been curious, now’s the chance to come and see it,” said Judy Koski, administrative assistant for the DSSAB and one of the organizers of the open house.
“We’re really proud of our new building,” said CAO Donna Dittaro, noting family, friends and other community members often have expressed interest in the DSSAB having an open house so they can have a firsthand look at how the renovations turned out.
The timing also is good because, with the exception of a few touch-ups and the paving of the parking lot, all of the renovations are done and everyone has “pretty much settled in,” noted Dittaro.
The tours will be informal, with staff walking guests through the building and coffee at the end, she added.
“I don’t think that all of the public are aware of all the wonderful services that we provide,” Dittaro said, noting people taking the tour will be given the chance to see all the different departments and programs, such as social housing, “Ontario Works,” child care, and land ambulance, as well as speak with the various managers.
“We’re really going to use it as an opportunity to answer questions about the services,” explained Dittaro. “And who knows, someone might walk through the doors, and we describe the services and they might find that they qualify or they need those kinds of services.
“I hope so, anyways. I hope it opens some doors for people.”
Another big thing Dittaro hopes people see with the tour is how accessible the renovations have made the DSSAB to the public.
“Anyone can walk through the door and have a tour,” she remarked. “Previous to our renovating this building, it wasn’t like that. I actually worked in this building for 13-14 years, and at that time it was very difficult for anyone to get around in here.
“But now it’s accessible to any staff member or client, or member of the public who has some sort of physical challenge.”
“When we renovated, [accessibility] was one of our main focuses,” noted Koski, adding this focus even netted the DSSAB with an award for accessibility at Saturday night’s annual business awards.
“I hope that there will be an appreciation that there’s a single point of access for service,” Dittaro said.
Prior to these renovations, DSSAB services were located at three different offices around town, plus additional storage locations.
“So just for example, if a person came into our main office and they required child care services, well the child care people were over at the high school,” Dittaro explained. “If they were an ‘Ontario Works’ recipient, a social assistance recipient, they had to go down the street to see Krista, our employment worker.
“It just didn’t make sense,” Dittaro stressed. “It defeated the whole purpose of integration, and that’s what DSSABs are all about—having a whole lot of services under one umbrella to save on administration costs and make it a lot easier for the consumer.”
Often those coming into the DSSAB office are doing so because of unfortunate circumstances and it can be hard for them, she noted. Prior to being all under one roof, these people may have had to tell their story sometimes three or four times to different workers, at multiple locations in town.
This type of situation also can be a real challenge to people with developmental disabilities, Dittaro added.
“It’s just so not friendly, so this allowed us to all be under one roof,” she stressed.
When people come into the building for the tour, Dittaro hopes they notice there’s one receptionist and one intake worker sitting the main reception area.
“So when you come in, regardless of the service that you might need, you may need one service, you may need three of the services that we offer, that one person is sitting there. You only have to tell your story once.
“We are really proud of it,” Dittaro enthused. “We just encourage people to come . . . we’re just the nicest people you’d ever meet!”
“If we do say so ourselves!” added Koski.
