STANDARDS OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
PATSA is guided by a board of directors and is managed by a professional staff, all of which pledge to follow these standards of professional conduct:
- We shall respect the uniqueness of each client, relative to his/her culture, customs and beliefs and shall not discriminate against any person in the provision of services.
- We shall recognize the potential vulnerability of clients and their families and treat them accordingly.
- We shall not take advantage of a professional relationship with a client for our own personal gain.
- We shall respect the professional status and obligations of the agencies with which we interact and we shall promote cooperation among them.
- We shall strive to provide communities with programs and services that are culturally sensitive and of the highest quality.
- We shall strive to recognize the boundaries of our competence and resources and we shall not offer services that we are not qualified to provide.
- We shall treat all employees fairly and respectfully.
- Recognizing that confidentiality is a hallmark of professionalism, we shall ensure that no information about our clients be inappropriately disclosed.
HISTORY
1985 - First budget for the chartered chapter for $3,000 and there were 200 patients.
1986 – Appropriation grant received for $50,000
1987 – Funded for $50,000 with part time secretary and rented office.
1988 – Secretary to full time with 750 patients.
1989 – Appropriation increased to $100,000
1991 – Received a Dept of Community Affairs Grant for $100,000 to purchase Office & also received an appropriation from PA Dept of Health for $97,000. We now have 1500 patients.
1993 – PA-TSA inserted as a line item in the Pa Dept of Health annual Budget for $100,000.
1994 – Pursuit of permanent funding as a non preferred status agency to insure continued funding of $100,000. Full time bookkeeper added.
1996 – Gov Ridge did not include TSA funding and a reverse mortgage was secured to continue all services until equity was exhausted. We now have 2000 patients.
1997 – Agency was added to the line item funding in the Dept of Health budget at $100,000.
1999 – 1 half time position for second advocate, and part time secretary added, bringing staff to three and one half people. The 4 computers were networked, and all were put on the World Wide Web. Client base now at 3050. We purchased the first agency vehicle to be used by the staff to serve the clients in the state of PA.
2000 - Grant for ½ of Advocate salary making the position full time and giving us two full time advocates enabling us to be in two places at once. A part time position for secretary is now open which will give us two, for full time coverage. Now have 3102 in patients. We mailed out 3011 information packets in the fiscal year 7/1/99 to 6/30/00 and received 4498 incoming phone calls. We also mailed 10283 newsletters, 2003 individual pieces of information as well as 3916 support group announcements. The two advocates (1full time & 1 part time) drove 14896 miles in support of our patients.
2001 - Included in PA Dept of Health Budget for only $100,000 not the $200,000 we had asked for fiscal year 01-02. A part time position for secretary is now filled which will give us two, for full time coverage. We now have 3089 patients. We mailed out 2981 information packets in the fiscal year 7/1/00 to 6/30/01 and received 5218 incoming phone calls. We also mailed 13584 newsletters, 2981 individual pieces of information as well as 2476 support group announcements. The two advocates drove 22,288 miles in support of our patients. They did 108 Individual meetings and 50 professional in-service presentations with 2133 people in attendance.
2002 - We did get the funding from the state but the first payment was received on 12-20-01 six months into the fiscal year. Our demand for requested services has continued and as of May 9, 2002 we now have 3202 patients and the advocates have driven over 24,000 miles and completed 153 IEP & In-services.
2003 - We put up an extensive website, went to outsourcing a full color quarterly newspaper and did a General Assembly breakfast, spoke to a Tampa Florida Chapter and presented at the American Psychiatric Association Convention in Philadelphia. There are now 3302 patients, we drove over 25,000 miles, 156 in-services and Individual meetings, mailed out 551 packets of information and 2223 pieces of information with 9644 newsletters.
