The way business is being done for people with developmental disabilities will change as provincial funding cuts for programming are phased in over the next few weeks.
Those cuts were made public as roughly 60 parents, guardians and caregivers gathered in the Westlock Ramada meeting room May 8 to hear how Persons with Developmental Disabilities’ (PDD) Northeast Service Providers are changing the evaluation process for people with developmental disabilities. The new test, known as the Supports Intensity Scale (SIS), is being used to measure the level of support and funding each disabled adult might need.
The evaluation process shift is twofold: It aims to meet targeted provincial budget reductions; and encourage people with developmental disabilities to work towards a higher level of independence by joining community groups or finding jobs.
Although the support levels are still going to be funded, PDD CEO Dale Drummond does not appear to know how accurate the new assessment tool is going to be, just like its service providers.
Service providers received information about new budget targets on May 2, said Westlock Independence Network’s executive director Greg Morris, after the public forum — but the changes that are going to be implemented were unknown before the Westlock News went to press Sunday night.
“It’s like getting a tool and starting to use it before you know how to use it and the damage it causes,” said Morris. “It’s like somebody has a new skill saw and they’re doing damage before they have tried it out on something that they don’t care if they damage.”
But that damage is known, according to Alberta New Democrat Party Human Services critic Rachel Notley. The total northeastern regional target reduction is almost $9 million out of a $23 million budget with service providers reporting cuts as high as 50 per cent.
Service contracts are expected to be signed as early as July 1 and there is a nine-month transition time, allowing changes with families and their support systems to be made.
Although Morris said it was “good” PDD was searching for a way to have a province-wide evaluation tool, he questioned the dramatic timelines being utilized — with six weeks to sign contracts — and said it would be nice to see the process “slow down” long enough to fix problems in the SIS tool before making budget cuts. It’s likely the cuts will jeopardize staff hours and force service providers to refuse clients without enough money to pay for safe support facilities.
Drummond echoed Morris’ concerns and added the timelines did seem “aggressive” after the meeting.
But when asked how many case studies had been done through use of the SIS tool, Drummond said there weren’t many available because PDD has just rolled out the data.
He added service providers and families haven’t had enough time to digest the SIS information yet, so there were limited case studies available. Drummond included two examples during his presentation.
“Ten would be a high number,” Drummond said, when pushed for a number of results from completed case studies. “Because the SIS data has only been out for two weeks. So how could we possibly have a case study when we haven’t even had the conversation with the family or a parent?”
He said there would be eight public meetings held across northeastern Alberta over a two-week span. Westlock was the third group in the region to see the presentation. Whitecourt and Barrhead have already heard the news, but other groups like Vegreville, Fort McMurray, Lac La Biche, St. Paul, as well as (a joint PDD community) Bonnyville and Cold Lake have not heard the news yet.
“When the board first decided to have these (public) consultations, we only had a week to organize the first ones,” Drummond added. “So we thought, we might as well get as wide an audience as we can.”
However, the public meeting was not advertised in Westlock and several families complained about receiving a letter about the public meeting in the mail.
And the meeting was criticized by several people.
“They (PDD) could not answer most of those questions correctly,” Morris said. “They came here to do a presentation like they had on the PowerPoint — they really didn’t come equipped or well thought out to answer any questions, and that’s kind of disappointing.”
Drummond disagreed, saying it was a work in progress.
“There have been a few changes to the presentation since we first started because we want to make the presentation fit what we want to do and introduce changes to the business, so in order to do that, we’re trying to get that message out to families,” he said.
Although the community was assured their loved ones would not be at risk during the service transitions, several questions remained unclear and Drummond did not offer a business continuity plan.
That fact concerned Morris. “The sad truth was if a person was approved a long time ago, they were far better off than somebody new coming into the community,” said Morris.
For more info, visit http://humanservices.alberta.ca/disability-services/pdd-northeast.html.
