Snow, Minimum Wage and the Governor

By Kathleen McNally Durkin, Deputy Executive Director

 

As President of the Board of MACS (Maryland Association of Community Services), I was invited to meet with Governor O’Malley last week. We discussed many topics regarding services to children and adults with developmental disabilities (DD) in Maryland, including an increase to minimum wage and its impact on DDA services. The Governor has committed to increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 incrementally over the next three years. Should low income Marylanders make better wages?  Absolutely!

The issue for DD provider agencies like The Arc Baltimore is complex.  Currently, our staff makes more than minimum wage. Our State funding, however, is stretched severely and has increased little in recent years to cover not only wages, but increases in other agency expenses including health insurance, worker compensations insurance, vehicles, home rent, food, gasoline, etc. Agencies such as ours rely on the State to provide funding to pay employee wages. The State determines a rate which currently affords most service providers the ability to pay an average of less than $10.00 per hour. This rate must not only pay for wages for entry level positions, but also wages for long-term employees and overtime. If minimum wage is increased but the DDA funding is not proportionally increased, these vital direct support professionals will become minimum wage jobs. We can’t let that happen.

 

And so, the snow…We are in the midst of a major snowfall event (major for MD at least). I often think about the direct support professionals who work at The Arc Baltimore, and I am humbled by their dedication and hard work. Imagine supporting three women who live in a home in Towson. You work from 3 pm – 11 pm and then sleep in their home in case they need assistance at night. You wake up at 6 am and help the ladies get off to work by 8am. On a snowy day like those we encountered this week, the day centers are closed and the ladies will be home. You juggle what would have been your time off, in order to stay and support them. All three have “no unsupervised time” which is DDA speak for, you can’t leave them alone and run out to the store! The walk needs to be shoveled and the car cleared off. Groceries are limited, and you wonder, ‘does Sue have enough of her seizure meds to last the week in case you can’t get to the pharmacy?’ It’s just you. Your supervisor will call to check in, but no one else is scheduled to work. Your job is an independent one. You must make decisions quite often on the spot that are significant to the health, safety and quality of life of these women. Your family is home left to handle the storm themselves. You have dedicated your career to adults with disabilities and this is a part of what is expected.

Should these jobs be minimum wage jobs? No! We need to push the state to increase the DDA funding proportionally so that when the minimum wage goes up, so does the funding to developmental disabilities agencies to at least keep the differential that currently exists. Our staff deserves more.

Update:
On 2/11, Kathleen Durkin testified in front of the House Economic Affairs Committee on the minimum wage issue. Also testifying was Lawrence Jenkins, a direct support staff person from The Arc, who talked about the challenges and demands of his position, the skill requirements and the training required. With him was Tom Franz, one of the three men from the home who he supports in our Community Living program. Both gentlemen served as a meaningful example of the valuable work of direct support staff and why the minimum wage increase must be tied to the rate increase. Then, the three testified again before the Senate Finance Committee.

 

Update on Quality Supports

By Karyn Harvey, PhD, Assistant Executive Director of Quality Supports

What does it feel like to have an intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD)? On one level, the answer to that question is different for each person. No two people have the same experience. On the other hand, however, there are some universalities. One is that having an intellectual or developmental disability means experiencing a certain degree of social trauma: bullying, exclusion and/or rejection. It may also mean experiencing a significant degree of loneliness and isolation. 

Recent studies have shown the effects of social exclusion and/or rejection on the brain. In one particular study, participants were included in a game and then deliberately excluded. Their brains were connected to electrodes that could then show which part of the brain was stimulated and thus active during the experience. When participants were excluded, all of their brains fired in the anterior cingulate cortex. This is the part of our brain that fires when we feel physical pain. They experienced exclusion from a simple game as physical pain. Imagine what people who have been rejected over and over again have experienced.

The Quality Supports Division at The Arc Baltimore has been attempting to reduce the pain and suffering due to exclusion, rejection and loneliness through increased in-house therapy from the psychology department, trauma and sensitivity training for Arc staff, and finally, through involvement in our Connections program.

In-house therapy, or in-vivo therapy, as we have called it, takes place in the context of people’s day rather than in an isolated setting. The psychology staff visit individuals at their centers and in their homes and have therapeutic and supportive interactions with them. Our psychology staff is trained in trauma therapy, including EMDR and Positive Identity Development, which is an approach that I originated several years ago and is being used in several clinics serving people with I/DD throughout the country.

In addition, we have revised our yearly behavioral supports refresher training to include a trauma-informed care model that assists staff in working with individuals in a manner in which they can provide both emotional and behavioral supports. The training department has also revised a number of trainings to increase staff participation and enhance more acute awareness of the many issues involved with disabilities.

Finally, the Connections program facilitates social engagement through sponsoring a variety of social events in which single individuals with I/DD can meet friends or find partners. There is a team of dedicated Arc staff and volunteers who work to ensure the success of these events. Through generous donations, we've organized cruises, formal dance events and plenty of community-based dating opportunities. We are determined to expand this program in order to enhance social connections and increase meaningful relationships. 

If you would like more information about trauma or our efforts, please contact me at 410-296-2272 x 5144 or kharvey@thearcbaltimore.org.