Services

RVI is committed to supporting each individual to help him or her achieve personal life goals. At least once a year, the individual will meet with a team comprised of a Service and Support Administrator from the county board of developmental disabilities, parents or guardians, friends, and service providers to develop an individual service plan for what that person wants his or her life to look like.

The group discusses goals, challenges and preferences. At RVI, a Services Coordinator provides training to all the direct support professionals who work with that individual, so those staff members can provide consistent encouragement toward the goals outlined in the service plan. These goals can include career objectives, hobbies, health-related outcomes, and activities.

Several of our staff members have participated in “The Good Life” training sessions. This program is geared toward aiding the staff members who work with people who have developmental disabilities to help them to create the lives they want to have.

The Ohio Revised Code provides specific rights to individuals with developmental disabilities. This is referred to the Bill of Rights for People with Developmental Disabilities.

At RVI, staff members must study these rights as part of their initial and annual trainings. Adherence to these rights for the people we serve is part of the philosophy that is integrated into our work every day.

These rights include:

1. The right to be treated at all times with courtesy and respect and with full recognition of their dignity and individuality.
2. The right to an appropriate, safe, and sanitary living environment that complies with local, state, and federal standards and recognizes the person’s need for privacy and independence.
3. The right to food adequate to meet accepted standards of nutrition.
4. The right to practice the religion of their choice or to abstain from the practice of religion.
5. The right of timely access to appropriate medical or dental treatment.
6. The right of access to necessary ancillary services, including, but not limited to, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, and behavior modification and other psychological services.
7. The right to receive appropriate care and treatment in the least intrusive manner.
8. The right to privacy, including both periods of privacy and places of privacy.
9. The right to communicate freely with persons of their choice in any reasonable manner they choose.
10. The right to ownership and use of personal possessions so as to maintain individuality and personal dignity.
11. The right to social interaction with members of either sex.
12. The right of access to opportunities that enable individuals to develop their full human potential.
13. The right to pursue vocational opportunities that will promote and enhance economic independence.
14. The right to be treated equally as citizens under the law.
15. The right to be free from emotional, psychological, and physical abuse.
16. The right to participate in appropriate programs of education, training, social development, and habilitation and in programs of reasonable recreation.
17. The right to participate in decisions that affect their lives.
18. The right to select a parent or advocate to act on their behalf.
19. The right to manage their personal financial affairs, based on individual ability to do so.
20. The right to confidential treatment of all information in their personal and medical records, except to the extent that disclosure or release of records is permitted under sections 5123.89 and 5126.044 of the Revised Code.
21. The right to voice grievances and recommend changes in policies and services without restraint, interference, coercion, discrimination, or reprisal.
22. The right to be free from unnecessary chemical or physical restraints.
23. The right to participate in the political process.
24. The right to refuse to participate in medical, psychological, or other research or experiments.
25. We also support more rights of the individuals served, as outlined in the RVI policy manual:
26. The right to have freedom from financial or other exploitation, retaliation, humiliation and neglect.
27. The right to have access to information pertinent to the person served in sufficient time to facilitate his or her decision-making.
28. The right to have access to their own records.