Message from our Board Chair and Executive Director

Dear Friends of Pernet,
We have had our best year ever!  Fiscal year 2019 brought forth a year's work in Strategic Planning, technology updates, number of families served, improved program quality and reporting capability.

Beginning on April 30, 2018, the Board of Directors, along with the Leadership Team, held a Strategic Planning retreat.  Four pillars were identified as areas of focus - Growth, Fiscal, Quality, and Satisfaction.  From there, we launched into committees, discussions, reporting back, exploring strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, typical of the strategic planning process.  You will read in this report the extent of the this process.  This is inspiring a way forward for the future of Pernet and the families we serve.

One time, a Board Member said, "walking into Pernet is like going back into the eighties."  Not anymore!  With the help of the Sills Family Foundation, the Fuller Foundation, and the Agnes Lindsay Trust.  Pernet Family Health Services has purchased a customized data management system, tablets, and the accessories needed for remote data entry.  Most of Pernet's programs will be automated and the other programs will follow.  This has been a long time coming.  There is so little paper that we eliminated 25 file cabinets.

Numbers have increased in the Summer Youth Jobs and the Homework Club.  Parent Aide and Parenting Group referrals have significantly increased and the electronic billing system required have streamlined the process.  The Nursing Program has grown and changed the lives of many, many mothers and newborns by teaching, support, and supervision of families that may not otherwise know basic care and the need for positive interaction with their infant.  Pernet is one of the few places that are committed to supporting fathers.  The numbers have increased in those support groups, as well.  Our biggest program, Early Intervention, has had significant turnover this year and is rebounding with force.  It is on track for a healthy year ahead.  

Program quality is very important to Pernet, not just the numbers we serve.  There has been a concerted effort to keep quality in the forefront.  Families are the foundation of this community and we want their basic needs to be met in evidence-based, transparent, and caring ways.  

All of this has been accomplished with tremendous help from all of you, for which we are very grateful.  We want to express our gratitude for all of your generous contributions to this important work.  In the words of Fr. Stephen Pernet, "take society at its roots - the Family - and transform it in the Spirit of Christ." 

Sincerely,
​Patricia Vanasse, Board Chair
Sheilah Dooley, Executive Director