We thank our legislators for their decades of support for services for people with developmental disabilities, especially in last year’s session. Once again, we are counting on you to help people with developmental disabilities secure the level of supports they require.
Development of 24-Hour Residential Services
* The Legislature must provide funding for the development of 24-hour residential services, as well as urgently needed day and at-home services, for 300 individuals, at a cost this year of $11.25 million (state share for 6 months).
For the sixth straight year, the budget offers crumbs to those in urgent need of 24-hour residential services. While the budget proposes $35 million for a variety of new services, history shows that this is inadequate to meet all the high-priority needs, especially for 24-hour residential services. Too many of our aging and exhausted families are nearing crisis, barely able to continue to safely maintain their adult children at home. Moreover, once again, the OPWDD budget utterly neglects the needs of individuals with complex behavioral or medical conditions, who ought to be among our highest priorities. In fact, scarcity of resources within OPWDD for people with intense behavioral challenges or other complex needs has resulted in scores of young adults who have aged out of costly residential schools remaining there, with many more expected to join their ranks when they age out this June.
Manhattan alone has a residential waiting list of 479 individuals. Of these, 182 urgently require out-of-home residential services—up a staggering 350% from last year. In a heart-rending statistic, in the first six months of 2013, approximately 15 Manhattan families were so desperate, so bereft of any hope of help from OPWDD, that they abandoned their children in local emergency rooms.
OPWDD still expects that many people who need 24-hour residential services will be able to move into vacancies in existing residences. But that will work only if there is a vacancy and then only if the person is the right gender, the right age, with needs that the particular residence can meet. Many families needing round-the-clock residential services, especially those whose children have significant disabilities, are correct in feeling abandoned. New York State is truly failing them.
Wage Increases for Direct Support Professionals
* The Legislature must provide a 3% trend factor for OPWDD, to be used specifically for a salary increase for direct support professionals.
Families and people receiving services fear losing our hard-working, dedicated, yet underpaid, direct support professionals who are the heart and soul of services for people with developmental disabilities. These hands-on staff are responsible for the daily support of the people in their care, doing whatever is necessary–from bathing and dressing to money management—to assure their health, safety, and well-being. For this important and extremely challenging work, extensive and ongoing training is mandated.
With starting salaries at a meagre $10-$12 per hour, and no raises for the past 4 years, staff have seen a 9% decline in their purchasing power in that period. Staff typically work two jobs just to make their rent. But sadly, the low pay eventually forces many to quit for higher paying jobs in other fields.
A small salary increase would help reduce the high turnover that continues to plague our services, shattering loving relationships between individuals and staff, and overburdening the staff who remain. At the very least, we owe our invaluable and committed staff this small salary increase.
Moreover, a fifth year without raises is a slap in the face to direct support professionals working in nonprofit agencies, because their counterparts employed by OPWDD are slated for a 2% raise. Nonprofits are not stepchildren; they are full partners with state government, under contract with OPWDD to fulfill OPWDD’s obligations. Direct support professionals working in nonprofit agencies must be equitably treated by government.
Nurse Practice Act
*The Legislature must support the Governor’s proposal to expand the exemption in the Nurse Practice Act to enable trained and supervised direct support professionals to administer medications in OPWDD programs in non-certified settings.
Current law permits direct support professionals who have been trained as Approved Medication Administration Personnel to administer medications under the supervision of a registered nurse in certified OPWDD settings. For individuals who desire to live or work in more inclusive, non-certified settings, but who require medications, this law poses an insurmountable barrier. The Governor’s proposal would retain the current training and supervision requirements, but would resolve the problem by extending the exemption to direct support professionals working in non-certified settings that are funded, authorized, or approved by OPWDD. Clearly, this is a win-win proposition for the individuals who will benefit from more individualized and inclusive services and for New York State which will increase its Olmstead compliance.