March was a busy month! On Friday, March 22nd, we held a Town Hall Meeting to announce the Ashley System of Care, and several new major developments regarding Ashley’s expansion. These developments are just the beginning of our journey towards reaching our “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” of $250 million of annual gross revenue, and an endowment totaling $140 million. Our target is to serve 600 patents and touch 1,000 families per month by July 1, 2020, 1,000 patients and 3,500 families by the beginning of FY22, and 3,500 patients and 10,00 families within 10 years. Achieving these goals will make Father Martin, and Mae Abraham’s vision a greater reality than they ever imagined.
Effective March 15, 2019 Ashley assumed active asset management of Aquila Recovery, an outpatient and sober living provider in the District of Columbia, and Northern Virginia market. We expect that on or before July 1, 2019, Aquila will become part of the Ashley system of care. This blending of our two organizations will help Ashley fulfill our longstanding wish to grow our presence in the Greater D.C. market, and create more access points for care. We’ve assembled an integration team consisting of myself, Rich Przywara, Carla Moore, Andy Flood, Donna Bogari, Jennifer Aguglia, Father Mark Hushen, Dr. Greg Hobelmann, Tom Haller, Jeff Van Slyke, Alex Denstman, and Becky Kiersznowski. More information about Aquila can be found on their website at aquilarecovery.com.
On February 18th, Linda Thompson joined our staff as a Peer Recovery Specialist working in the INOVA Hospital System in their Mt. Vernon and Alexandria emergency departments. In her new role for Ashley, Linda will be working with INOVA patients who are in need of coaching and treatment placement. This concept, if successful, will be expanded to INOVA’s other ED locations and serve as a model for implementation in other hospital systems as well.
Earlier this month I visited Mae ‘Ashley’ Abraham and during our conversation I proposed the idea to make 2019 the year of Mae “Ashley” Abraham. We are still working out the details for formal celebrations but in the meantime the schedule is solid for the Women in Recovery, Mae Abraham Luncheon on May 14th. Mae’s birthday is July 22 and mine is July 26th. We can combine events and celebrate at the annual crab feast on Wednesday July 24th. Mae’s 55 Year Sober Anniversary is on August 26th, and we will honor this milestone at our September Alumni Reunion. Other activities to honor Mae this year are in the planning stages, and we will keep you posted as these plans become firm. Mae was very touched when I presented this plan and she expressed her deep appreciation to Ashley and the Staff for keeping her in our thoughts. We should all be striving to emulate Mae in everything we do here at Ashley. Her contributions to this organization models the Ashley I-ACT Core Values (Integrity – I do the right thing!, Accountability – I own it!, Compassion – I am with you!, and Total Commitment – I am all in!).
In our January Newsletter we cited the passing of Ashley’s original Executive Director, Reverend Leonard Dahl on December 11, 2018. Reverend Dahl was instrumental, along with Father Martin, and Mae Abraham, in guiding Ashley from its infancy in 1983. Reverend Dahl retired as our Spiritual Counselor in October, 2015. A life celebration will be held here at Ashley at 10:30 a.m. on April 20th. I hope you can join us to pay tribute to Reverend Dahl and his life’s work here at Ashley.
Regarding February’s patient satisfaction survey results our overall score increased with 98% of our patients indicating they would recommend Ashley to a friend or family member. Most keys areas showed improvement as well. This increase in the ratings is welcome news and we will continue to build upon this success.
As always we have a lot going on, and we are working vigorously to build upon the great legacy established by our founders, Father Martin, and Mae Abraham. Our noble mission and hard work continues to be blessed.
Peace, Becky
