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St. Aloysius partners with firm to determine why they have so many no-shows

Posted at 7:08 PM, Sep 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-21 19:36:33-04

CINCINNATI -- Officials at a long-time Bond Hill institution can’t figure out why some families don’t show for appointments.

St. Aloysius officials aren’t sure if the problem stems from transportation, child care or work conflicts, but the former orphanage recently partnered with a local consulting firm to look for solutions.

St. Aloysius was founded as an orphanage in 1831, but it’s mission has changed a great deal over the years. The focus now is mental health and educational services for children and their families.

On any given day, about 25 percent of the children enrolled in programs don’t show up, according to Executive Director Pam Shannon.

“It's not as simple as saying, ‘My kid is enrolled in the program, and everything will be great.’ No, the parents have to get them here,” Shannon said.

Shelnova Thompson finds a way to get her boys -- 7-year-old Rashad and 6-year-old Sharrod -- to counseling and classes, a task that she says isn’t always easy.

Thompson’s sons spend half the day in the behavior program and the other half in school.

“It was a challenge the first couple of days, but after they got used to it, they come up with their little prize box gifts,” Thompson said.

Shannon says she would like to see more parents take advantage of the institution’s services.

“Our kids are learning from us how to manage their behaviors, whether it's frustration, or sadness, or anger and their families are learning the same thing,” Shannon said.

IT consulting firm Systems Evolution Inc. (SEI) volunteered to crunch numbers and analyze data to help determine why there’s an influx of no-shows.

Paul Yelton, an SEI data expert, said they analyzed several demographic among St. Aloysius families.

“We were slicing the data by age, by staff, by location and just seeing where we could see certain patterns of clients or patients that were unable to attend or did not show up for their appointments,” Yelton said.

The blind data analysis came up with a surprising clue.

The zip codes closer to the school had higher no-show rates, according to data expert Lauren McDonald. The volunteer consultants will deliver a report in the coming weeks with their full analysis of the situation.

In the meantime, Thompson will press on, doing the best she can to use services to help her sons.

“To find someone to help that the boys like, that I like -- it's actually working. It's been working so far,” she said. “I'm just happy to help. I'm just happy to be here.”