 Ableton On Air is sponsored by Green Mountain Support Services, empowering people with disabilities to be home in the community. Washington County Mental Health, where hope and support comes together. Media sponsors for Ableton On Air include Park Chester Times, Muslim Community Report, WWW, This Is The Bronx.info, Associated Press Media Editors, New York Parrot Online Newspaper, U.S. Press Corps, Domestic and International, Anchor FM, and Spotify. Partners for Ableton On Air include Jihad, New York, and New England, where everyone belongs, the Orthodox Union, the Vermont Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Montpelier Sustainable Coalition. Ableton On Air has been seen in the following publications, Park Chester Times, New York Parrot Online Newspaper, Muslim Community Report, WWW, This Is The Bronx.info, and www.h.com. Ableton On Air is a member of the National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences Boston, New England Chapter. Welcome to this edition of Ableton On Air, the one and only program that focuses on the needs, concerns, and achievements of the differently able. I've always been your host, Lauren Seiler, and on this show before we get to it, we would like to say special thanks to our sponsors, Green Mountains Support Services, Washington County Mental Health, and also our partners with the Vermont Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and many, many others, including partners such as for this particular edition of Ableton On Air, we would like to thank the Equal Opportunity Center of the Bronx, and the services for the Developmentally Challenge of Bronx, New York. And with us today, we would like to say hello to Mr. Lewis Torres of Services for the Developmentally Challenge of Bronx, New York. He's the Human Resources Director of Services for the Developmentally Challenge. Welcome, Lewis, to Ableton On Air. I'm good. Thank you. Okay. Let's begin. Lewis, from your end, since you've been training people with people to work in the field of special needs for many years, for those that don't know, what is a DSP, and how has the position been dealt with during the pandemic, or even before the pandemic? People with very disabilities, autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, it used to be known as, that is now known as DSP, was previously known as a worker. The reason for the change is because as much as they can do for themselves. What type of training do you do in terms of the classes you teach at the Equal Opportunity Center? Let's start there. Person with Down syndrome, and the same with somebody You being a Human Resources Director, have you noticed high turnover in the field of special needs or being a DSP? So do you think people are more afraid also to work with people with disabilities? Why or why not? Person could be out in the community. Arlene, did you want to ask any, I'm sure you have some questions. Go ahead. I was going to Lehman College to get my BA. I went to the training. A lot of people get to training. I thought, well, why not try to set something up with a training program or community college? And so the rest of the industry has been 20 years, Bronx Community College over here in Bronx, New York. Now, this has to do with people with special needs. Have you seen now, obviously now group homes and other facilities have changed with the ADA compliance. I remember some years ago you had a client not mentioning names, because your group home wasn't accessible too much. You guys had to put her into a nursing facility, a nursing home. Now question, does the role of a DSP or service coordinator or anybody that works in the field of special needs change when it comes to a person's age, if a person ages out or gets older? And the person now is having ambulation issues because they're getting older. So at some point, if the person can't go from wherever their living quarters are or wherever they're sitting, and go out the door, that presents a problem. So there may be a case where a person can evacuate at his restrictions. But it's hard because in New York, it's hard to find one level of cottage houses that have a difference. Or some other type of facility, you know, besides nursing homes. Go ahead, are there any more questions? Do you find that people continue your class and move on to other positions other than a DSP? Or do some of them leave or they can't do the coursework? How does that? Because I know there's a lot of training to be a DSP. A person goes through the program because it goes on for about a period of over two months. And the reason it goes for two months is that there's a medication training that's required, at least in New York State, that goes on for four days. There's a behavior, there's CP on first aid. And oftentimes we also get fire safety as well as the classroom instruction. So usually, when the person is two months, they make the place and go on to become and elevate their what? Now, are there more men than women in the field of working in as a direction for professional or go ahead, higher population of women working in the field that men goes a long way. But why is that? Yeah, the right for more professional they somehow get it wrong or they just don't understand what the requirements are. So there's a little thing that you do that can actually to do with how we put it out there. Now, in terms of titles, PCA, Nurses Aid, what is the difference with all the titles? Because I know titles have changed. But what is the difference between a DSP and a personal care assistant? Because with a DSP sometimes you might have to give the person a bath or a shower, if I'm not correct. I mean, if I am correct. So what is the differences and how do you differentiate the titles? Now, why why isn't the is there a main reason why you know, do you tell your students that this is an not high paying field? And why isn't it a high paying field? Pull out there that professionals have, they will provide more funding because there's a lot involved. Do you say do you think in your opinion that certain states just don't care about their workforce? I think maybe they would understand it a little bit differently. And then they'll pay more attention to the needs of both the individual by services. We have just a question. Go ahead. Give them medication, side effects and so on. And then also for the behavioral part, there's what they call a skip training. No, no, but yeah. No, but what if the person has a real a real mental health issue? Yeah, because you can't you can't go ahead. No, but I'm saying you but good. But if it's a real life for example here in Vermont, there's something there's an agency called Washington County Mental Health Services. And if a person is acting out, sometimes the police would be called in to to help help the person calm down. The screener screener or something. But like does but what if the. OK, so my point being so if a DSP goes into somebody's home, for example, and if it becomes too dangerous, do they go to another client? How does that work? Well, we would like to. OK, we're about we're about to end. What is the future of the DSP field, Lewis? Having somebody go there. So right now it's growing a place where the career path, like I said, work administrator and continue to grow. Well, we know I grew from a DSP into a manager and now human resource director. OK, well, again, we would like to thank Lewis Torres for joining us, telling us about his experience and joining us on this edition of Ableton on a Lewis. What is the address and phone number of equal opportunity center for people that might want to sign up for your class? For the Bronx, it's in Bronx, New York site and get information on the different training. And for those that would like to find out more about becoming a DSP and training, you can also go to www.NADSP.org. That is www.NADSP.org. Well, we would like to thank our sponsors, Green Mountain Supply Services, Washington County Mental Health and partners in this episode are the Equal Opportunity Center of Bronx, New York, Services for the Developmental Challenge of Bronx, New York and many others, including the IAC of New York City and the Interagency Council of New York City, Tom McAvanna, thank him for helping us with this particular episode, as well as many others, including the help for the Vermont Division for the Blind and Visionary Impaired, the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visionary Impaired and many others. Again, I'm Lauren Seiler. See you next time. Ableton on Air is sponsored by Green Mountain Supply Services, empowering people with disabilities to be home in the community. Washington County Mental Health, where hope and support comes together. Media sponsors for Ableton on Air include Park Chester Times, Muslim Community Report, WWW, this is the Bronx dot info, Associated Press Media Editors, New York Parrot Online Newspaper, U.S. Press Corps, Domestic and International, Anchor FM and Spotify. Partners for Ableton on Air include Jihad, New York and New England, where everyone belongs, the Orthodox Union, the Vermont Division for the Blind and Visionary Impaired, the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visionary Impaired, the Montpelier Sustainable Coalition. Ableton on Air has been seen in the following publications, Park Chester Times, New York Parrot Online Newspaper, Muslim Community Report, WWW, this is the Bronx dot info, and www.h.com. Ableton on Air is a member of the National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences Boston, New England Chapter.