The direct support professional workforce that is the essence of human service agencies like Unity House of Cayuga County Inc. is fast approaching endangered species status.
Respected only nominally and recognized far too infrequently, the thousands of individuals who comprise the backbone of direct care for those unable to care for and help themselves leave their jobs not long after starting them, largely because they cannot afford to remain in a profession that offers average annual wages below the poverty level for a family of four.
As executive director of a human services agency that employs more than 300 full- and part-time employees who care for more than 700 individuals a day with developmental disabilities, mental health illnesses, and those recovering from chemical dependencies, I can speak firsthand to these professionals' importance and to the difficult and growing challenge of recruiting and retaining them in the six central New York counties in which we operate.
Direct support professionals play an indispensable role in the lives of the disabled by helping with essential daily tasks, ranging from meal preparation to transportation to coordinating innumerable vital services. More important than the countless ways direct support professionals help disabled individuals is the stable, mutually beneficial relationship that develops between them and those they care for as they interact over time. There is no embellishment whatsoever in declaring that without direct support professionals, the health and well-being of individuals with disabilities from mild to severe to chronic would at best be jeopardized.
Direct support professionals also contribute positively to the economies of the communities in which they provide residential and day and other support services. They buy consumable goods and services and directly and indirectly sustain local business activity.
Data from the direct support profession in New York state pertinent to the 2002-2012 period demonstrates that direct support professionals are not earning and will not earn a wage they can live on. According to the New York State Association of Community and Residential Agencies (NYSACRA), although the profession in these 10 years is projected to be one of the top 10 fastest growing in the state, it also is projected to be in the lowest 10 percent pay- and benefit-wise. A NYSACRA survey of all attendees at its 2006 Regional Direct Support Professional Conferences on a variety of issues related to their experiences as direct support professionals also indicates low wages are a primary issue for them. Not surprisingly, nearly 73 percent of the more than 400 professionals who completed the survey rated their rate of pay for their work as either “fair” or “poor.”
The insufficient payscale applicable to direct support professionals generates high turnover rates and an unreliable labor pool. We need to be able to pay the qualified individuals who desire and enjoy this work the salaries and benefits that their responsibilities warrant. One effort to ensure this occurs rests with legislation currently in the U.S. House of Representatives' Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health. The bill, H.R. 1279, titled the Direct Support Professionals Fairness and Security Act, would provide money to states to increase wages paid to direct support professionals who provide services to individuals with disabilities under the Medicaid program. Cosponsored by our congressman, U.S. Representative Michael Arcuri, the bill if enacted into law would provide assistance vital to easing the recruitment and retention dilemma our industry faces. We urge its support by all those who employ direct support professionals.
Caring for disabled individuals will not take place without direct support professionals. It is therefore crucial that permanent, structural increases in salary and benefits that are the foundation for direct support professional career paths are realized, if we are to prevent any further erosion in the profession and, consequently, any reduction in the high quality of care they currently provide.
Joyce Williams is the executive director of Unity House of Cayuga County Inc.
As executive director of a human services agency that employs more than 300 full- and part-time employees who care for more than 700 individuals a day with developmental disabilities, mental health illnesses, and those recovering from chemical dependencies, I can speak firsthand to these professionals' importance and to the difficult and growing challenge of recruiting and retaining them in the six central New York counties in which we operate.
Direct support professionals play an indispensable role in the lives of the disabled by helping with essential daily tasks, ranging from meal preparation to transportation to coordinating innumerable vital services. More important than the countless ways direct support professionals help disabled individuals is the stable, mutually beneficial relationship that develops between them and those they care for as they interact over time. There is no embellishment whatsoever in declaring that without direct support professionals, the health and well-being of individuals with disabilities from mild to severe to chronic would at best be jeopardized.
Direct support professionals also contribute positively to the economies of the communities in which they provide residential and day and other support services. They buy consumable goods and services and directly and indirectly sustain local business activity.
Data from the direct support profession in New York state pertinent to the 2002-2012 period demonstrates that direct support professionals are not earning and will not earn a wage they can live on. According to the New York State Association of Community and Residential Agencies (NYSACRA), although the profession in these 10 years is projected to be one of the top 10 fastest growing in the state, it also is projected to be in the lowest 10 percent pay- and benefit-wise. A NYSACRA survey of all attendees at its 2006 Regional Direct Support Professional Conferences on a variety of issues related to their experiences as direct support professionals also indicates low wages are a primary issue for them. Not surprisingly, nearly 73 percent of the more than 400 professionals who completed the survey rated their rate of pay for their work as either “fair” or “poor.”
The insufficient payscale applicable to direct support professionals generates high turnover rates and an unreliable labor pool. We need to be able to pay the qualified individuals who desire and enjoy this work the salaries and benefits that their responsibilities warrant. One effort to ensure this occurs rests with legislation currently in the U.S. House of Representatives' Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health. The bill, H.R. 1279, titled the Direct Support Professionals Fairness and Security Act, would provide money to states to increase wages paid to direct support professionals who provide services to individuals with disabilities under the Medicaid program. Cosponsored by our congressman, U.S. Representative Michael Arcuri, the bill if enacted into law would provide assistance vital to easing the recruitment and retention dilemma our industry faces. We urge its support by all those who employ direct support professionals.
Caring for disabled individuals will not take place without direct support professionals. It is therefore crucial that permanent, structural increases in salary and benefits that are the foundation for direct support professional career paths are realized, if we are to prevent any further erosion in the profession and, consequently, any reduction in the high quality of care they currently provide.
Joyce Williams is the executive director of Unity House of Cayuga County Inc.
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