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Cardinal Cushing School
Ancillary Services

The students at Cardinal Cushing School come from diverse backgrounds and experiences and have a variety of needs that can be met by the Ancillary Services Departments. The two Ancillary Services Departments are the Health Services Department and the Clinical and Student Services Department. Health Services provides around the clock nursing for all of the students attending the school. The Clinical and Student Services Department offers a wide variety of services including counseling, case management, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and social skills and human development training. Both departments provide vital services to our students and are critical to meeting the individual needs of our students.

HEALTH SERVICES DEPARTMENT

Cardinal Cushing School provides health services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The goal of the Health Services Department is to promote and maintain the good health of our students. In order to meet the complex medical needs of our diverse students on a continuing basis, the Health Services Department employs a variety of medical professionals.

During all hours of the program's operation, at least one Registered Nurse is available to provide needed medical services, administer medication, and provide emergency services. During school program hours, more than one nurse is available due to the increase in our population when students arrive for our day program.

To ensure quality of care, the Health Services Department also employs a nurse practitioner on a part-time basis, who is also available for consultation on an as needed basis. Additionally, the department contracts with a medical doctor who serves as the school's Medical Director.

The Health Center has also begun a "house call" service for students over 18 years old who come to us without a designated primary care physician. A local Hanover doctor comes monthly to the school to see the students who have been accepted to his practice. These students are also able to access his services in his office just a few miles up the road from the school as necessary.

In addition to regular medication administration, the Health Services Department offers clinic hours during the day and evening to address students' medical concerns. In the course of the clinic visit, the nurse on duty assesses the condition of the student according to the presenting complaint, and formulates a plan of treatment according to approved protocols. When necessary, ill students are referred to the nurse practitioner or their primary care physician. When a student has been seen by the physician or is acutely ill, the parent/guardian will be notified by the nurse on duty. In some cases of serious illness, it may be necessary to send a student home, request that parents take the student to their primary care physician, or send the student to a hospital emergency room for medical evaluation.

The Health Services Department also works very closely with the Clinical and Student Services Department and the consulting psychiatrist to provide appropriate evaluation and services to those students requiring psychotropic medications.

CLINICAL/STUDENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT

Cardinal Cushing School at Hanover employs approximately 30 staff to meet our students’ therapeutic needs under the direction and supervision of the Director of Clinical and Student Services, a professionally licensed and appropriately credentialed senior mental health professional. The philosophy of the department is eclectic in that behavioral, relational/psychodynamic, psychoeducational, expressive and ancillary therapies (PT, OT, Speech/Language) and biologic psychiatry are all utilized as appropriate to a student's individual needs for care and healthy development. All members of the department consult to all programs within Cardinal Cushing, offering their expertise and evaluative skills for the success of each student. Communication with and involvement of each student’s family/legal guardian, advocates, home school representatives and external treatment/case management team members are considered integral to the student’s development while in programs at Cardinal Cushing. We attempt to be in regular communication with all members of the team and consult as appropriate on changes to the student’s plans.

To meet our students’ needs, our services include:

  • Care Management by our Student Service Coordinators
  • Mental Health Services by our Clinicians and Consulting Psychiatrist
  • Behavioral Planning by our Behavioral Specialist
  • Ancillary/Other therapies provided by our Specialists Team of Speech-Language, Occupational, and Physical Therapists and Assistants
  • Behavioral Support by our Support Team/Behavioral Intervention Specialists
  • Social Skills/Healthy Development Consultation and Planned Interventions by our Human Development Specialist

    Student Service Coordinators

    The Student Service Coordinator provides all aspects of care management and communication for each student. Upon admission, students are assigned a Student Services Coordinator who will act as the primary contact for the student and his/her family, helping with all communication between the family/legal guardian and the Cardinal Cushing team. The Student Service Coordinator will also coordinate all services provided at Cardinal Cushing and facilitate all meetings including the Team meeting for writing the IEP. The Student Services Coordinator also assists in negotiating systems within our organization as well as with outside agencies, and is responsible for the student's educational program and consultation to the parents/guardians for the student’s Age 22 transition.

    Mental Health Services/Behavioral Planning

    Members of this department will use a student-centered, individualized model of assessing for the need for individual, family, and group therapy modalities as well as behavioral consultation and behavior intervention services (using the Positive Behavioral Intervention Support model). In addition, students with special needs for assistance in the areas of human development, healthy sexuality development and specialized social skills training can receive those services through the department. Prescription and monitoring of psychoactive medications occur with our consulting psychiatrist during our “med clinic” that happens 3 times/month.

    Frequency and type of mental health therapy is dependent on various factors such as phase of therapy, type of therapy, client motivation, and client mental status. This will vary from student to student and is highly dependent on the student's status in relation to individual goals. Frequently, referrals are made to agencies in the area of meaningful tie when travel distance presents a significant barrier to family treatment. The only mental health services not provided on campus involve dispositions for inpatient psychiatric hospitalization, which occur at the local community hospital, following the procedure for the student’s medical/mental health insurance program.

    Ancillary Therapy Services

    Services provided by this department include Occupational Therapy, Speech/Language Services, and Physical Therapy. These services are integrated into all program areas and therapists/assistants are involved with students across all settings through an individualized, integrated model of service provision. Given the needs of the student, as determined by the Team, the educational program may reflect inclusion within our integrated model and/or more specific involvement within our Therapeutic Tracks of Service. To that end, a student’s plan may include a therapeutic trial of service, individual and/or small group therapy, consultation to all areas of his/her program such as mealtime monitoring, and Activities of Daily Living (meal preparation, cooking, hygiene, vocational and/or community skills).

    The speech and language team members address communication/hearing, swallowing, and social pragmatic uses of language. Occupational therapy services promote independence in functional skills in the areas of self-care, fine motor, and visual/perceptual development. Through the use of therapeutic equipment and techniques, strategies are incorporated into all areas of a student's program to promote self-regulation, calmness and body organization. The physical therapy team members address issues of functional mobility, positioning, seating, balance, endurance, range of motion, strength, motor planning and gross motor activities. It is the intent of the Physical Therapy team to help our students achieve the highest level of physical independence in their classroom, vocational program, residential setting (whether home or at Cardinal Cushing School), as well as in recreational activities.

    Support Team/Behavior Intervention Specialists

    The Support Team members/Behavior Intervention Specialists provide crisis intervention and de-escalation services for all students in the academic, vocational, and residential programs, including use of the support team center and time-out rooms when individually appropriate. Members often consult on students’ behavioral plans, data collection for those plans, and provide the data on behavioral interventions/restraints to a student’s Team. Support Team members are specially trained in crisis de-escalation techniques and sensory interventions as alternatives to restraints. They also are trained in safe and effective restraint techniques and provide the Crisis Prevention Intervention (CPI) training and restraint coordination.