Care Homes for People with Disabilities Struggle to Retain Staff Amid Budget Cuts

By Jennifer Corr

Group homes run by Long Island Disability Care Agencies are responsible for providing a good quality of life for people who need support in their daily lives.

But to hinder this mission of offering a good quality of life, full of activities and socialization, is a lack of state funding. Charles Evdos, executive director of Riverhead-based agency Rise Life Services, said the budget cuts – 16.2% in 2020 and 23% in 2021, followed by a decade of no adjustments to the cost of life (COLA) – make it difficult. maintain and motivate staff.

“The current workforce crisis has also led East End Disability Associates to operate its programs at minimum capacity, deploy senior executives to cover direct support professional changes, postpone planned development, and discontinue some programs we have provided. to families since 1993, ”said Lisa Meyer Fertal, CEO of East End Disability Associates, in a letter to family, friends and associates. East End Disability Associates operates seven group homes in the East End of Long Island.

And it doesn’t help that budget cuts, as well as the lack of COLA, are not addressed by the state as it continues to implement mandates such as requirements to fill positions or have a job. number of staff to supervise group homes.

“The problem you have now, with all these mandates and cuts, 80% of our budget is salaries,” Evdos said. “The problem is, we want to increase direct care workers to $ 20 an hour. The state does not give us the money to do this. Basically, Long Island agencies pay between $ 14.50 and maybe $ 16.00. Agencies cannot afford to pay the $ 20 an hour.

What is happening, Evdos added, is that staff members are realizing that they can work at Lowe’s Home Improvement or McDonald’s for easier work that will earn them more money. In fact, according to a New York Disability Advocates study, 39.2% of agencies said they were unable to open programs due to understaffing. Agencies also reported a drop of 93.16 in job applications.

Fertal said in the letter above that East End Disability Services has two development stage group homes that are ready to provide a lifetime home for 12 people living with their families. But while the houses were ready to be occupied, the agency was unable to operate the houses due to insufficient staff.

This shortage could be exacerbated if the state demanded that workers in this industry be vaccinated. Currently, there is no requirement, but 10 employees told Evdos that if they were to get vaccinated to continue their employment at the agency, they would quit.

“Our staff are working 24/7 and they are getting exhausted,” Evdos said. “It is a problem.”

Agencies such as Rise Life could also lose money whenever a person spends the night away from the group home, for example, with their parents, or if the person has to go to the hospital.

“What sometimes happens is that some of our people need to be hospitalized and treated, and even though we have the staff and the expenses there, they take the money away from us,” Evdos said. “When you look at our budget, 80% of our budget goes to salaries. So there is not much room for cost savings. You have to pay rent, you have to pay insurance, you have to pay anything. It is a problem.”

There is no room for cuts when direct caregivers take care of people’s lives, Evdos said. These employees must meet certain criteria and be trained to work with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. But their salary does not reflect the work they do.

“The state has to come to the plate,” Evdos said.

State Senator John Mannion, Chairman of the Standing Senate Committee on Persons with Disabilities, led a public hearing on September 14 in Albany to assess current workforce challenges within the system that supports New Yorkers with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“This hearing is an important action,” Mannion said during the hearing’s introduction. “This is a manifestation of a very real crisis unfolding in the communities of New York. There are simply not enough caring, compassionate New Yorkers looking to work with people with disabilities. ”

Low wages are clearly one of the factors behind this labor shortage, Mannion said. But low salaries are not the only reason, as the state must fund the recruitment of more clinical staff, such as nurses and mental health professionals.

“We have to work with community colleges,” Mannion said. “We need to fund tuition credits and mentors. We need to have a strategy that brings job seekers together with these challenging but rewarding and fulfilling positions. ”

Currently, it is predominantly women of color who make up the bulk of the disability care workforce statewide, Mannion said. At Rise Life, Evdos said, more than half of the employees are black or Hispanic.

“They talk about fair wages and helping minorities, and they don’t help minorities,” Evdos said. “Living on Long Island is very expensive. Many of our employees have three or four jobs just to make ends meet. ”

To deal with the crisis, Mannion said, the committee rejected the proposed budget cuts and also secured the first COLA in over a decade.

“It’s long overdue,” Mannion said. “No employee should go without a raise and the people who provide this service certainly deserve one. Our frontline health heroes, especially those to whom we entrust our vulnerable people, deserve to be valued. They deserve better pay.

But those wins are not enough, Mannion added, as they must serve as a launching pad for an additional salary increase for direct support professionals.

The state has just received $ 700 million from the federal government, including $ 550 million earmarked for this labor shortage. “It will provide things like longevity premiums and a risk premium,” Mannion said.

During the hearing, he called on the state to match the federal investment and include $ 500 million in the next budget to “start to shake things up on this crisis”.

Sign up for Long Island Press email newsletters here. Sign up for Long Island Press home delivery here. Sign up for discounts by becoming a Long Island Press community partner here.

[wpdevart_facebook_comment title_text=”Comments” title_text_color=”#000000″ title_text_font_size=”22″ title_text_font_family=”monospace” title_text_position=”left” width=”100%” bg_color=”#CCCCCC” animation_effect=”random” count_of_comments=”5″ ]

About Antoine L. Cassell

Check Also

Hello Leaders lights the spark in elderly care

Since its launch in early October, Hello leaders has provided decision makers in the aged …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.