Catholic Family & Child Service
Interview with Trinidad Medina, Technology Director
Give us some background on Catholic Family & Child Service:
For over 50 years, CF&CS has been bringing hope to life, especially for those most in need. CF&CS is a multifaceted private non-profit social service agency that supports our community partners and assists the community where there are gaps in services. We are a licensed Community Mental Health Agency and provide mental health counseling to unemployed and low income families in Chelan and Douglas counties. Our counseling services are provided by highly trained and experienced therapists who are skilled in providing culturally sensitive services. Our staff include bilingual therapists, employment specialist, peer support specialist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, and a child psychiatrist all of who work with adults, children, and families. While providing counseling is the largest program CF&CS has we also provide the community with referrals to licensed child care providers, coordinate a volunteer chore service program for the elderly and disabled adults, and qualify families for subsidized child care.
How has Catholic Family & Child Service changed in the last 10 years due to changing technology?
Our organization is much more efficient than 10 years ago. We have embraced technology and are now on the leading edge of electronic medical health records for public health organizations. We also rely on instant communications through e-mail and real time information via our servers. For instance, when one of our employees is out in the field and saves a document on the server our office staff can immediately see the document and begin working. Our productivity has increased, which in a small agency is key. We truly rely on a secure and stable network because our information is so important, and Clear Focus gives us that.
Why did you decide to go with Clear Focus and CompleteCare?
We have been partnering with Clear Focus since 2000. We truly believe it is the best use of our funds. As a nonprofit, budgeting our cost is essential, and with Clear Focus we know exactly how much things are going to cost and we know our computer systems are going to work. We’re more productive and efficient, our data is safe and secure, and we have the latest technologies thanks to Clear Focus. When we talk with other organizations they often say, “Our computers are down again!” Due to Clear Focus’ pro-active approach we don’t find ourselves saying that.
What advice would you give to other businesses who are struggling with utilizing their technology?
I see technology as an investment. Keeping your computers up to date, patched, and stable is so vital in today’s world. Everything is moving faster and faster and you need technology to compete in the marketplace. We’re a nonprofit, but by utilizing technology we can provide competitive services. If our network is down, it means were unproductive and we don’t want to be in that situation. With Clear Focus, they can remotely access our computers from their office and fix the problems in a matter of minutes instead of us waiting until someone can fit us into their schedule. We really love Clear Focus’ approach. We feel like we get the best support and technology while containing our costs.
Featured Case Studies:
» Lake Chelan Clinic
» Catholic Family & Child Service
» Washington Growers Clearing House
» Crossland Law
» Sarty Mountain Inc.
» Tastebuds Coffee & Wine
