| OMR/DD Commissioner’s Forum Testimony |
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Recently, OMR/DD’s Commissioner, Diana Jones Ritter announced a series of Public Forums to gather input as she and her staff develop OMRDD’s Statewide Comprehensive Plan for Services for the Period 2009 through 2013.Anumber of family members, service providers, self advocates and other stakeholders presented testimony to the Commissioner. At the June 15th forum, conducted in Kingston, I presented the following testimony. -Brian Doyle Good afternoon. My name is Brian Doyle, Associate Executive Director for Ulster-Greene ARC. First, I want to thank Commissioner Jones Ritter for conducting this series of forums and in particular for posing the questions posted in the forum announcement. Those questions are certainly pertinent to the many challenges and opportunities we face today. I wish to address my remarks to the question of what steps need to be taken to make the developmental disabilities system more person centered and individualized. Ulster-Greene ARC provides services and supports to nearly 1,200 individuals within Ulster and Greene Counties. Our 50 year old agency, a chapter of NYSARC, is a provider of a wide range of traditional program models. Through various evolutions of thought and discussion with various stakeholders, we have recently adopted our new Mission Statement, “To offer people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities opportunities to lead and experience full lives”. We have embarked, over the past year, on a vigorous effort to direct our energy toward a more person centered approach with self directed services as a centerpiece. We are aggressively pursuing Consolidated Support Services/Self Determination and engaging in OMRDD’s Portal Pilot, as well as surveying other provider agencies for related best practices throughout the state. While we will continue to pursue person centeredness through these unique opportunities, we are also committed to challenging ourselves in our more traditional programs so that even in those program models, the dreams and desires of the individuals we serve are at the forefront. We applaud and are grateful for your commitment toward this more individualized approach, but we must ask for a greater level of consistency in the messages sent to us by OMRDD. The Division of Quality Management (DQM) is spearheading the use of National Core Indicators (NCI) as a true measure of quality. The NCI certainly does speak to all of the meaningful elements of OMRDD’s mission; however, we and other providers, on a daily basis, experience DQM program surveys that speak far more to the minutia of regulatory compliance than to the profound meaning and purpose of our supports and services as they impact people’s lives. We certainly recognize the need to satisfy federal regulations and preserve the safety and wellbeing of the individuals for whom we care. However, there is no doubt that the increasingly onerous approach taken in the DQM surveys of certified programs at best distracts our staff from the mission that we and OMRDD share. At worst they run counter to our desire for our staff and programs to take risks as they center their attention on enriching the lives of the people we serve. Some examples: The ever expanding array of “safeguards” that proliferate in Individual Service Plans create a risk averse climate where individuals and staff are intimidated away from focusing on what the person truly wants for themselves. Because survey citations result in plans of corrective action which, virtually every time, we are told, must address “systemic changes”, we put in place a tangle of “to do”, “must do” and “can’t do” lists and checklists, all of which create a labyrinth of belts and suspenders intended to make for some unattainable 100% fail-safe world. When we insist that a Residential Manager concentrates on keeping a case of canned goods off the floor of the food pantry we are keeping her from the vital work of supporting people meaningfully in their home, relationships, and their work. We are therefore asking that OMRDD closely examine the survey process both in tone and substance and seek to re-tool it towards a greater emphasis in those quality indicators reflected in the National Core Indicators. Again, I thank you for this opportunity to speak and thank you for the leadership you, and your executive and DDSO staff are providing in these difficult times. Respectfully submitted, Brian Doyle |