People at risk.
Get out a pen and paper. You're temporarily paralyzed, what are five things that you want your Direct Support Professional (DSP) to know about your care? Do your feet get hot at night? Do you hate ketchup? Are you allergic to dogs? Do you need to take any medications regularly?
A DSP assists an individual with a disability to lead a self-directed life and contribute to the community, assists with activities of daily living if needed, and supports informed decisions that enhance community inclusion. In Oregon, that means well over 24,000 individuals.
If it was you who needed a DSP for your most intimate needs, could you then be satisfied with that person receiving poverty wages? What would happen if your DSP was replaced tomorrow, and then replaced again next month? How would that affect your health and safety?
The current system in Oregon has a large disparity in wage reimbursement between Direct Support Professionals employed by community agencies, others doing similar work for higher wages and private non-disability business. As the hiring environment tightens, staff can make more per hour in much less complex jobs to support their families and depend less on public assistance to survive.
Agencies inability to recruit and retain qualified staff is undermining their ability to expand their capacity to provide supports to meet the growing demand for services and to fulfill their mission of person-centered community supports to individuals with disabilities. To put it another way, this cycle of risk applies not only to the people with IDD, but to the agency, their employees, the employees families and the families of those they provide services to every day.
A DSP assists an individual with a disability to lead a self-directed life and contribute to the community, assists with activities of daily living if needed, and supports informed decisions that enhance community inclusion. In Oregon, that means well over 24,000 individuals.
If it was you who needed a DSP for your most intimate needs, could you then be satisfied with that person receiving poverty wages? What would happen if your DSP was replaced tomorrow, and then replaced again next month? How would that affect your health and safety?
The current system in Oregon has a large disparity in wage reimbursement between Direct Support Professionals employed by community agencies, others doing similar work for higher wages and private non-disability business. As the hiring environment tightens, staff can make more per hour in much less complex jobs to support their families and depend less on public assistance to survive.
Agencies inability to recruit and retain qualified staff is undermining their ability to expand their capacity to provide supports to meet the growing demand for services and to fulfill their mission of person-centered community supports to individuals with disabilities. To put it another way, this cycle of risk applies not only to the people with IDD, but to the agency, their employees, the employees families and the families of those they provide services to every day.