CCA is thrilled to introduce Vicki Bales to those of you who do not know her and, following her retirement last year from the reviewer role, celebrate her many contributions to our work in accrediting community-based organizations. First, let’s take a walk down memory lane…
In the mid-1990s, Vicki joined an initiative in the community health centre (CHC) sector to develop the first set of standards for CHCs in Ontario, through an initiative called Building Healthier Organizations. She was part of the team that wrestled with how one would actually assess whether an organization is operating in accordance with a given set of standards and developed a process for doing so. One of the fundamental elements of the process was that people were evaluated or assessed by their peers. As Vicki says, it helped those early adopters understand that “that this wasn’t a ‘gotcha’ process, that it wasn’t a judgmental process… it was an attempt to try and help people raise the bar within their own organization and across the sector. And I think that gave it a lot of credibility.” Vicki fondly remembers helping to design and launch the peer review process that is still in place today.
Vicki’s involvement did not stop there. She became a volunteer reviewer herself and was able to experience accreditation in action. Over the years, she saw that “more and more, people would be excited about their accreditation review and that they’d have a chance to share what they were doing and to be affirmed.” Vicki found that the verbal wrap-up by reviewers at the end of the accreditation site visit was an opportunity for many staff to view their organization as a whole, perhaps for the first time, and to see how different programs fit together to contribute to overall outcomes. She saw organizations benefit from continuous quality improvement efforts and present a solid case to funders and donors for why they were “worthy” of financial support.
Now that her time as volunteer reviewer has ended, Vicki has reflected on her experience. When asked what has been most memorable, she shared how getting to see for herself what happens in the different organizations she has reviewed “gave me a boost. I walked away feeling that there are an awful lot of people doing an awful lot of good” despite the many challenges they face in the health and social services sectors.
Vicki’s parting advice for organizations going through the process is to treat accreditation like a learning process, and for reviewers, Vicki says to “trust the process”. For anyone considering becoming a reviewer, Vicki shared “it was an amazing professional development experience. And it wasn’t just the content, it was … in interacting with others and having to really learn and exercise team membership and team building skills…. I absolutely will miss the people.”
CCA wishes Vicki all the best in retirement and thanks her for her immense contribution to community-based accreditation at all stages along this ongoing journey.