 Abel Denonair, major sponsorship was given by Green Mountain Support Services, empowering neighbors with disabilities to be home in the community. Also sponsorship was given by Washington County Mental Health Services, where hope and support come together, and Champlain Community Services of Vermont. Welcome to this edition of Abel Denonair, the one and only program that focuses on the needs, concerns and achievements of the differently abled. I'm your host Lauren Syler, and we would like to thank our sponsors, Green Mountain Support Services, Washington County Mental Health, and Champlain Community Services. Green Mountain Support Services is the agency that focuses on helping people with special needs stay at home in the community and being independent. With us to discuss this topic of direct support professionals and the career of being a direct support professional is, can you guys introduce yourself? Chelsea Bishop, Brandy Carleton, and you guys are service coordinators for many for a couple years as well. Why don't you explain some of the work of a direct support professional and what they do? I'm going to hand that question off to Brandy, because she has actually had experience in both lines of work. So the the responsibilities of a direct support professional is number one safety of the person that they support and also helping giving the quality of life that they deserve and everyday life tasks that they need to get done. Being there, being a friend, that's in my opinion that's what a direct support professional should do is support that person in any way that they need. Now I understand that you guys, well instead of from Montana, you guys are working with New York State in a project called eBadge Academy, which helps people get their certificate in direct support professional. Can you explain a little bit about that? Yes, so the eBadge Academy is a way for direct support professionals to get recognition for the work that they've done in the field and they can bring that wherever they go. If they do say they don't want to work with us, it can go with them to whatever job they... So it's a certification? Yes, absolutely. So what they do is they submit a little paragraph about the work that they've done and how it applies to the Code of Ethics and then we have reviewers that review the badge and decide is does it meet the requirements of the Code of Ethics? What is the Code of Ethics in this case? I did not memorize them. There are 12. Give me one of them or two of them. At the top of my head. Can we pause this and like go back? Okay, let's go back. All right, well what do you mean by Code of Ethics in this case? If you can say the Code of Ethics, there is a Code of Ethics when it comes to serving people with special needs. So it's like the standards of care you would expect to receive as an individual. Do you want to ask a question? Do you want to ask a question? Okay. So what makes this program versus... You have an online program for teaching people how to work with people with special needs. Versus being in a college setting learning of this because I do know people that learned how to be DSPs that got their certification being a member of a college, you know, getting a certificate. So what is the difference between online learning in this case and, you know, because, you know, this is like similar to a nurse's aid. You can't learn to be a nurse on nurse's aid online. It's possible. So can you explain? So the online aspect of the eBadge Academy is they've already experienced the badge that they're applying for. Prior to earning that badge, we do a lot of training. Oh, you guys do do training. Okay. Right. But it's not like a typical classroom setting. It's more individualized. So, you know, if you were going to be supporting person A, you would go through their plans, speak to their team. So you work in conjunction with DSP would work in conjunction with the service coordinator, the service coordinator, the guardian, and then look over their ISP, the individual service plan. So it's an ISA, yep, the individual service agreement. They would go over that. Any behavior support plans, any shared support plans, you know, any pertinent information to that person, you know, that can help the DSP. Okay. Do's and don'ts of being a DSP, like certain things that setting boundaries is important because look, journalism, like we do is not nine to five. You know, from the minute that DSP gets to their site, their boundaries that need to be set, how does that work within? I think the boundaries are set as you learn about each other. As you go along, it's really case, it's really person by person. You can't set not every single DSP will have the same boundaries as. No, what I mean by boundaries in this case, like, oh, you can't call me, you know, ten hours a day, you know, I'm not a family member of your, you know what I'm saying? That's entirely up to the DSP on their own is generally giving out your personal cell phone is probably not the best, but some DSPs do do that and they do it at their own risk because there is no, there is, there's, you can't say that your person will not call you ten times in one day. So it's really what the DSP is comfortable with. So as far as that boundary, then yes, New York State, for example, that's not allowed because if they work for a group home, that's not allowed, you know, giving out your personal information, that type of thing. So I guess it goes according to from state to state. It really does, yes. Right. Okay, so what, um, go through a scenario, a typical training that a person who wants to become a DSP would get. Okay, so we have, so they meet with our HR coordinator, Janet Germain. They go through realized trainings online, such as HIPAA, um, rights and responsibilities, um, they go through a medical training that neglect and neglect and abuse. It's about an eight hour day of online training and then they would go to orientation, um, which Elizabeth Walters, Marilyn Carter, and, uh, the nurses typically, you know, they all have pieces and parts of that. And then, um, after that, you know, they begin working and then we would schedule like a person centered training with Brenda Donnelly. A person centered training, what exactly is that? A person centered is making sure the person you're supporting is leading the life they want to live. That it's about them and not about the person that supports them. So teaching them how to be independent, as independent as possible? As independent as possible, yes. Yes. Is the DSP, uh, positioned, how long has it been in the, you know, how long has it been in position? Because I know that, um, years ago, like for example, during institutional days, there was probably no sustenance of DSP. So how long has it been since DSP has been? So when Brandon training school was closed in 1993, a lot of the people that were in the, were institutionalized were then, you know, out in the community becoming parts of the community. Um, so it's been, you know, 20, 20, 20 years since it's, it's been a position more like probably 25, but no one's really recognized it. You know, no one's doing now. Right, right. So they're more recognizing it now than they were years ago. Yes. We're, we're trying to get the, the DSP as like a professional, like an RN would be, you know, we're trying to get it more recognized. Okay. So, so DSP, there's a DSP person, um, is it like a nurse to say like a person would go into somebody's home if they need, if they need to be given a shower, give them a shower, or they needed to learn how to cook something that you guys do that. What exactly, how does that work as far as what the DSP does? Um, so like Brandy said, it's, it's really based on the person that they're supporting. I mean, we, we have some, some people that need help with cooking and cleaning. We have some people that need medication assistance. You know, it is all really like person centered. You know, it's personal center planning pretty much. Yes. Yes. It's all based on that individual, you know, um, if, if they need help showering, you know, ADLs, what not. A system, developing skills. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Um, does Vermont have, um, group homes? And if so, do DSPs work in the group homes, or is it mainly going into someone's home and doing this job? So as far as I'm aware, there are very little group homes now, um, in Vermont, in Vermont. Um, we don't have a group home per se. Um, other agencies do as far as that goes. I'm not sure if they have people that are staffed 24 seven or, or how that goes. But, um, I believe it's, you know, they're, they staff at 24 seven and they have basically are in a sense, personal care aids, yes, your DSPs, but you're in a sense, you're a personal care aid to the person, right? Am I wrong in saying that? Um, that I've never heard that. I've never heard a DSP be called that. Well, you're helping somebody do something so you're helping. It is personal quick care, but it's in a whole different direction. It's more of a quality of life. What? So how does this come? Okay. What I mean? Okay. For example, home health and hospice or agencies like that in Vermont, they go in and have a person needs house cleaning to have somebody. It's called a PCA. That's what I meant. PCA, personal care person. So the difference between a PCA and a DSP, what is it? Is there any specific difference versus each position? Well, I mean, in my own opinion, I feel like a PCA is there to, you know, provide the medication, provide the, the bathing, the feeding, the dressing, the cleaning. And yes, a DSP could potentially do that too, depending on the person and if they, they need that care. But a DSP's job is also to provide a quality of life to, to help support somebody in the best way that they possibly could. A PCA could do that too, absolutely. But I feel like that is. But you're not, a DSP doesn't do everything for that person. During the shift, they do. So again, person to person, if somebody needs help, if they cannot bathe themselves, if they cannot dress themselves, if they cannot feed themselves, if they cannot toilet by themselves, a direct supports professional would do all of those things for that person on their shift. When their shift is done, then it would become the shared living provider that is their job for the rest of the evening into the morning until the shift starts again. Okay. What's, what's a shared, in this case, since you say that and there's a cross. So what's a shared living provider? That's a person, I guess, who gives the house to a person with special need. Yes, it's, it's, it's, well, they, they open their home to, to a person in need. And then that, that home becomes their home as well. It's, it's not just the SLP's home. It's, you know, it's their home too. Okay. So I asked this question of all my guests. What are some misconceptions around, now that you said you're, you've been a DSP for a while, what are some misconceptions around people with special needs when you first meet them? You understand the question? Like the misconceptions around working with people with special needs are, you know, between high functioning, low functioning, etc. Yeah, you know, I've heard a lot of stories never, never with me and my lady that I supported, but a lot of stories about how people would make comments about why is our, you know, our tax dollars going to just sitting at McDonald's or just going to do laundry or. Why do you say, what do you mean sitting at McDonald's? Well, because in a lot of the times people and their supports like to go out for coffee. That's fun. You socialize, you're out in the community. Some of the bystanders out in the community feel like that is not what should be happening with the money that they say comes from their tax dollars. But what they're not seeing is what this does for their social, what this does for the community. But what if, here's the scenario, what if you being a DSP, what if that is the only social outlet? You get my point there? If, if let's say Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, if, if, if you were working with us, husband and wife, you were working with us and say, okay, we want to go to a restaurant. But if that was our only social outlet for that week or that month or whatever, we go out, we treat ourselves to a restaurant and you go with us and you socialize with us. I don't see the, I don't see the correlation, the problem with that thing that, that person said about McDonald's. But if that's the only social outlet. So what is your opinion on that? But again, they don't understand. They don't understand the what we do. The misconceptions. Exactly. They can't even understand what or why somebody would need a support, support person. And especially like you said, versus high functioning and, and lower, lower functioning. When, when somebody is higher functioning, they seem to a bystander that does not know anything about what we do. They seem like they would be able to be okay on their, their own. Well, low functioning person just means maybe the person might learn different. And exactly. But, and unfortunately, a lot of the world goes by what they see. So if they see somebody that looks like they're high functioning, they're going to be like, why do they need a support? But if they see somebody that is a little bit more lower functioning, they will understand. So it's more or less those comments are geared towards the more high functioning people. Because again, they don't know the whole story. Have you seen the field, have you seen the field change for the better? Are there changes that you think in the field of special needs, being a DSP or service coordinator, that, you know, or something that you see wrong in the field that you think might need to be changed? Yes, no? I think people need to be more understanding of, you know, persons with disabilities. I've seen mild changes of, you know, the community being more open and more welcoming to people with disabilities. I think that's changed a lot. We're not where we should be, but we're going in the right direction. I definitely. What do you mean by we're not where we should be? You know, a person is a person, whether, you know, we look different or we act different or function different for all people and, you know, individuals and we need to be treated with respect and kindness. Okay. Knowing that we're in this current administration, politic question, knowing that we're in the current administration and things are being cut, left and right. Medicaid, you know, nursing care, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. What is one thing you can say to, you know, knowing that you've been in the field for so long, um, you know, that this field of having someone support somebody else, right? Why is it so important for things like this not to be cut, you know, as far as services? Because everyone deserves the same quality of life. You know, everyone deserves to be doing as much as they can to the best of their ability. You know, and if that means someone needs to help them, then that's what needs to happen so that they can be part of their community and really be involved. Um, years ago, DSP, uh, well, the minimum wage has changed or certain states, the minimum wage is changing. Um, the, you know, now it's about $15, $16 an hour. Years ago, DSPs used to get paid less than that, $7, $8 an hour. Should it be a certain wage or should it be higher because of the fact that you're working with an infirm, or I shouldn't say infirm, but a population that, you know, the elderly, the disabled, that should it be higher. For example, food service, you're working with hot things, hot pots. Uh, it's a, um, what's the word I'm looking for? Um, you know, they've raised the minimum wage for that because of the environment. So, um, so your take on the minimum wage and DSPs? So, I, I believe that DSPs should get a fair wage for what they do. That being said, a lot of the DSPs that we have, um, that work for us, they're, they're not in it for the paycheck. They're, they're in it from their hearts, you know? They, they truly love what they're doing. But some people, and I've done research, some people have left the field because it's not a high-paying position. You have a family to feed. Absolutely. You know. Right, and we understand that, and, um, our agency to the best of our abilities give, you know, what we think is a sufficient wage along with some pretty amazing benefits, you know? Um, and, and we also offer a lot of training and support for people who are hired as DSPs. Okay. Um, so the training is eight hours. There's further trainings outside of the eight hours, right? Absolutely. Because the eight hours seems to me that it's the same because for a security guard, eight and 16 hour training, you know, depends on the state. But, um, how, how much further does that training go? Like, um, on the job training type of thing? Um, so Josh believes that, you know, if you want to continue your education, you know, ask, ask to go to a training. Um, we've sent several DSPs to New Orleans, um, where they attended some, um, conferences to better their knowledge and to see what the rest of the United States is doing as far as DSP work and institutions. No, what I mean is, um, like, there's a person shadow, no words. If I wanted to be a DSP, well, I can't because there's, um, well, I could, but I don't drive. We can work around that. But if I wanted to be a DSP, would you send me along with someone to shadow that person and what they, that's what I mean. Besides going to training in different states, would you send me to shadow somebody or to, to, you know, um, on a particular day? So, like you said with, with the wage concern, um, sometimes it is that you are hired and you read as much as you can. We give you as much information as we can and you go work with your person. You know, um, if there is a time that we can offer job shadowing, absolutely, but sometimes it's a matter of, you know, the person has been without support for, you know, weeks or sometimes even more, you know. So there's, besides the team that's currently there, you know, there is no, well, the shared living provider will also help a lot with that role because they're with the person more than ask the wrong person. No, no, no, you didn't ask the wrong question. Job shadowing would be the team's input would be the service coordinator and the guardian, um, and the shared living provider. Now, when the DSP goes to start their, um, shift at the home, cause that's where you would typically start to pick up the person. Um, the shared living provider would more than likely give you a lot of information about the routine of what they like, what they do dislike. But like Chelsea said, you do. That's all in a lot of plans over and over again. Um, the same thing. So it's repetitive. So you remember, it is very repetitive and also as far as training, um, we do monthly supervision with DSPs because, um, we need to know how to support them as well as support the person that they support. We need to support everybody and, um, humans change. We change every single day. So to say that we can provide all the training all at once would be, um, untrue because every month we, if they need training on this, we'll find that training. If they need, if we see that they need, um, training in a certain aspect, we'll find that training for them and we will get them into that. And so we keep our DSPs very knowledgeable on what they need to best support that person. Now, in terms of, um, because we only have a short time left, uh, the future of the field of disabilities and, um, DSPs. Look, as you said, um, there weren't really DSPs during brand new training school days, but how do you see the field evolving? Um, I think as more states recognize the closing of institutions, you know, across the country, I think there's going to be a higher need because I understand now in the research I've done that we've done 39 states are still institutionalizing in different aspects. Uh, there's certain states that still have work job workshops or in the employment piecework stuff. So, um, you know, I mean, we just need to recognize that people need to be more independent. Um, yes. Okay. There's nothing wrong with asking for help. You know, a lot of people are so prideful, we're asking for help that a lot of people don't probably don't want a DSP. And like you said, there's misconceptions. So how do we put this all in a nutshell and say that, you know, having a DSP is important? There's nothing wrong with asking for help, you know, but a lot of people are so, what happens if a person, you might think that they might need a DSP. So do you guys go and talk to the family or the family comes to you? How does that work? So typically when someone comes to Green Mountain Support Services requesting help, we go through an intake process to see, we do a needs assessment to see where the person's at in life and to see if they could benefit from some community support hours, which would be provided by a DSP. Is this funded by Medicaid or this is funded by, is DSP or having a worker, is it mainly funded by Medicaid? Yes, Medicaid dollars are used for DSPs. Yes. Okay. Now, last question. Okay. What, it, now, in terms of service coordinator, what is your, all right, so you, you with the family, okay, and how long is that process? Is that a couple of months, a couple of weeks? How long does it usually take? The intake process usually takes roughly about four, four weeks, you know, to meet the people, get the funding going, get an ISA started, get all the required paperwork. If the person is with an agency prior to coming to us, you know, we talk to that agency, get all the documentation. You're, what is the best thing about being a DSP? Pros and cons, the good things and the bad things about being a direct support professional. The best thing for me, and I can only tell you my opinion, is the work that I'm doing. It's, it's as much as you don't think that you would form a bond, you do form a bond, and it's just, you're giving back, you're giving something to somebody that they might not have had without you, and that is, that's fulfillment. That's fulfillment for them, that's fulfillment for you. It's a very rewarding, very rewarding profession. It really is. Yes. Your take on it. When you emailed me the question about what is a DSP, my immediate thought was, what doesn't a DSP do? Okay. So if I phrase that wrong, so what, yeah, so you're, you're taking being in the field. The best thing that you've dealt with or had to deal with? The best thing is when you see a person working towards the goal, and then they're able to complete that goal in life without any assistance, you know, they're able to independently, you know, go to work or, you know, something similar to that. And, you know, the way their face lights up, you know, when they know that they, oh my goodness, I just did this great thing, and you're there. If a DSP teaches somebody or someone, let's say somebody wants to learn how to drive a car, and then they turn around and get their license, they get their car, you, you might help them at the car dealership, ask questions, those things. So I guess if you teach somebody how to be more independent and not, so in other words, after they achieve their goals, does the DSP go away or how does that work? So the DSP, no, the DSP does not go away. So you set yearly, in the ISA you set yearly goals, and those goals are supposed to be worked on on a daily basis. And so that's, that's more or less what Chelsea was referring to, is you start off with goals that they, they haven't reached yet. And over time, monthly home visits, you see them out in the community, over time you see progress. And then by the end of the year, if they reach that goal, it's success. And that's really what we're all looking for in life, is to just be successful. So that feeling of watching it from the beginning to the end, that's an, that's an amazing thing. It's like a mother, it's like a mother watching your child crawl for the first time. And honestly, it is. Yes. If that's how, I mean, there's so many emotions put into it, that is a great way to put it. Right. Well, another way to put it, you have somebody has to crawl first before they can walk. Right, absolutely. So if, if, for example, because I've been a Special Olympic coach before, in other, other instances, you know, when someone's learning to play basketball for the first time, and they teach them that particular thing, then they make the basket, you're happy for them because they've achieved the goal, you know, and working in teams, being a DSP, you have to work in teams, like you said, you have, so you have the service coordinator, DSP, who else do you have besides those, the family members? So in the team, you would have the family members, the person you're supporting, the direct support professional, service coordinator, guardian, and you know, if they have work, the work supports would be involved. The employer. Right, sometimes. Because something is simple, like in terms of last question, sir, something is simple in terms of what a DSP does, like helping someone, if the employer says to the DSP, I need you to help me teach this person how to be coming to the job on time, or maybe teach them a better route to get to the job on time. Does DSP help with that? Oh, absolutely. Do you help with job coaching? Job coaching, oh, so it's one, because a lot of agencies have job coach, DSP, so DSPs, everything rolled into one? Right, so we do have a supported employment department at Green Mountain Support Services, they supervise the DSPs along with the service coordinators, and whatever work goals or whatever it is at work that the person is struggling with, we all meet as a team to support not only the direct support professional, but the person they're supporting as well. Okay, thank you very much for joining us on this edition of Ables and On Air. We would like to thank our main sponsor, Green Mountain Support Services, Sanplain Community Services, and Washington County Mental Health. This puts an end to this edition. We'd like to thank Green Mountain Support Services again. Real quick before we really end, is there a number of that number on the website? Yes, if you call 888-7602, you will get our office, and if you go to gmssi.org, you will find us on the web. For more information on Green Mountain Support Services, you can reach them at 802-888-7602 or www.gmssi.org. This puts an end to this edition of Ables and On Air. I'm Loren Seiler. I'm Loren Seiler. See you next time for the next exciting edition of Ables and On Air. See you next time. Ables and On Air's major sponsorship was given by Green Mountain Support Services, empowering neighbors with disability to be home in the community. Also sponsorship was given by Washington County Mental Health Services, where hope and support come together, and Champlain Community Services of Vermont.