Toni Pergolin, President & CEO, Bancroft

In an interview with Invest:, Toni Pergolin, president and CEO of human services firm Bancroft, discussed the technological trends and partnerships that are enhancing the quality of life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. “All this smart technology allows them to be more independent.”

What have been the key recent milestones for Bancroft?

Success in the organization means being able to grow. We have more people trying to access us than we are able to serve, and we have a constant focus on making sure we expand access. This year, specifically, we opened a new day program in Gloucester County, where we doubled capacity. We opened new group homes — we typically open three to five a year, but recently the state asked if we could add more, because the need is high.

A unique feature at Bancroft is that we offer a continuum of care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They can start at Bancroft from as young as 3 years old, and get educated through our school system, up until they’re 21 years old. They can transition into the adult program, which helps them learn skills to live independently and, hopefully, get paid employment. Then, there is a retirement facility where they can retire and enjoy life. About 40 students graduate each year. 

Another big success this year was accessing new grants and enhancing our environments and programs. We have also secured partnerships with some universities and healthcare systems around us. Overall, I would say it was a successful year in growing our portfolio and access.

How is the demand for your services changing?

The demand has dramatically increased, and we know that the number of people born on the spectrum, if you will, has also increased. In the state of New Jersey, 10 years ago, it was 1 in 200. Today, it’s 1 in 33. Certainly, not everybody on the spectrum needs services, but there are more and more people who are profoundly impacted. So, not only are we seeing the need for our services growing, but we are also seeing an increasing complexity among individuals. 

We believe that our role is not only to help the individuals learn how to interact in the community, but also to help the community learn how to interact with the people we serve. There’s a long way to go, but the awareness around people on the spectrum has significantly improved in society. With more people on the spectrum, they become a part of your own personal life, so you learn more about how to be accepting and how to embrace them. 

Have you noticed trends in the industry changing in favor of your mission?

We are still learning about AI, but we see its increasing usage in exciting ways. Some grants allow us to put smart appliances with safety features in our group homes, such as a stove that can automatically shut off, or medical devices that let individuals know when they need to take their medication. All this smart technology allows them to be more independent. 

The other emerging trend is the use of robots that can engage with the individuals we serve. Through our partnership with St. Joseph’s University’s Haub Innovation Center, the robots can assist our team members, not to take care of those we serve, but as co-pilots singing songs, playing games, or even saying, “Somebody’s a little off today. You might want to get him checked by the doctor.” This technology is not only helping with administrative work, but it also impacts an individual’s quality of life. 

How do your partnerships impact the development of your programs?

As we see many more complexities in our service, there are a variety of ways in which our partnerships deepen the quality of our care and accessibility. We have an exciting partnership with Cooper University Health Care, where they help us access medical care, which is a challenge in our industry. It’s hard to find physicians who know how to work with our population, and then getting them here. With this partnership, Cooper received a grant, and they now have a mobile unit. The unit comes to our program with the physician, and we set up an exam room right in our day program. When you have primary care on site, doctors can see things before they become an emergency room visit. 

Another partnership, with Rowan University, focuses on nutrition. Through a grant, they send their students over to do cooking classes and to help our staff learn how to eat healthy. The students also help us grow our vegetables. AJ Drexel Autism Institute helps us with their research on what’s causing the increasing complexities, and if we can have some breakthroughs, it will help tremendously. 

Mental health continues to be one of our largest needs because, again, there aren’t a lot of providers catering to our population. So, we are partnering with specific psychiatry institutions that want to be in this space. A lot of good stuff is beginning to take off, and they are all improving the quality of our care. 

What are the primary challenges for Bancroft, and how do you address them?

Workforce is a constant challenge, after which comes lack of resources and services. When there’s just not enough for the population at large, it impacts providers like us. So, we are looking at ways to make sure that we have access to these resources. On the workforce side, we are constantly projecting out. It’s a tough job; it’s a lot of burnout, so we work with our staff to keep them engaged, including offering career development. The people who work at Bancroft are passionate about making a difference, and we want to make sure we have these people here. Doing what we can to support them includes giving them access to the Employee Assistance Program, where they have somebody to talk to. They can take breaks or join yoga or meditation programs. It is important to focus on our staff as much as we focus on the people we serve. In the United States, as the overall population declines and the population ages, there will be a lot of caregiving options, and it’s going to get harder for a human services organization to grow — it will always need people. The robot is a good example of how we can, hopefully, support our staff. 

We are also aggressively looking to merge or acquire smaller organizations that might not necessarily have the wherewithal to be sustainable through the economic challenges. It won’t be good for any of us to see beds closed and for them to go out of business. We just acquired four new group homes in North Jersey. This works perfectly for us because a lot of our graduates and their families live there. Our strategy needs to be where the need is, and it’s great that we’re able to do that through an acquisition.

We are looking at opportunities to keep as much capacity in the state as possible. We don’t want to see any of them close, but the economic challenges continue. There are a lot of federal changes, too, going on in the United States. In the state of New Jersey, we’re getting a new governor and a new administration in the fall, which always comes with dramatic changes. So, these moves are helping not only Bancroft but also the whole industry to stay strong while we weather some of these really unfortunate changes to our funding.