Self-proclaimed as “small but mighty,” the two-person team of the Program Standards and Maintenance Department tirelessly dedicates itself to daydreaming about the food at next year’s JAG meeting – and producing quality standards, of course.
What are these two up to while at work in their fire-station-facing corner? Aside from bewailing the sounds of the fire engines – perhaps even louder than the fire engines themselves – Haley, URAC’s friendly-in-the-neighborhood Standards Associate, will be publishing URAC’s program publications (e.g., program guide, program standards, and at-a-glance documents). She will also assist writing and editing standards, and will conduct research as policy issues arise. Since starting at URAC, Haley has received training on AccreditNet 2.0 and Adobe InDesign.
In October, Donna, Director of Program Standards and Maintenance, will present on Core v4.0 standards at the NAIRO Membership Meeting in Nashville, TN (10/17), and at the annual NAMSS Conference in Colorado Springs (10/23 & 10/24). At NAMSS, Donna will also be part of an "accreditation panel," providing a brief, general update on URAC and participating in a Q&A session. Donna has 8.5 years as a reviewer (first employment with URAC) and 10.5 years performing standards revisions under her belt (second employment).
Though Donna may do well at building standards, it has been reported by a member of her own family that her building abilities stop there. According to Atton, Donna’s four-year-old grandnephew, it was clear during their play session that she could not build a Lego truck to save her life. In response to this accusation, Donna stated, “Evidently, I don’t know my back hoe from a front loader.” Alarming, isn’t it?
In May, while away from Legos and the standards, Donna takes a trip to Maine to do something even more frightening. Here, she takes a polar plunge into an ice-cold lake – a plunge that she describes as “mighty cold.” We can imagine.
Though Donna has never dyed her hair, she has made up for it by hiring Haley, who ran the hair gamut from rose gold to (accidentally) black all before the age of 23. Luckily, her fiancé has been able to identify her no matter what color her head in a given month, and they are getting married on August 6th. While this excites Haley, nothing excites her more than their subsequent two-week trip to Hawaii, where she plans to lay in the sun long enough to burn away her incredibly high levels of wedding anxiety (and probably some of her skin as well). Haley spends her nights writing and competing with her 85-lbs Labrador for food, hobbies she brought with her when she graduated college in May and joined URAC in June.
As you can see, the Program Standards and Maintenance Department – and their love for URAC and all that it stands for – is far from standard.
