50 OPSEU developmental services locals to bargain new contract

50 OPSEU Developmental Services locals will serve a Notice to Bargain to their respective employers on Wednesday, January 15, 2014. All of these locals’ contracts are set to expire on March 31 of this year.

More than 10,000 OPSEU developmental services workers want to know how the government plans to fix the crisis in services for people with developmental disabilities.

“It is time for a serious commitment to properly funding developmental services,” said OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. “Ontario families are stressed and pushed to the limit waiting for access to services. Lack of adequate funding means that there are not enough staff to meet the needs of people waiting for services.”

There are 24,000 Ontarians with developmental disabilities on the waitlist for services. Of those, 12,000 are waiting for residential opportunities. Meanwhile, some people with developmental disabilities are receiving the wrong kind of care. Many reside in long-term care facilities, psychiatric facilities, nursing homes and even in jails.

“Families cannot and should not wait 10 years and more to receive the care they need for their loved ones. It breaks my heart to see families struggling to get access to the specialized care their loved ones require for a decent quality of life. There are too many people who are growing old and worrying about who will care for their family member when they are gone,” said Patti Markland, OPSEU Developmental Services Sector Chair.

“Developmental services workers are deeply committed to the people we serve. However too many of us have to juggle multiple jobs just to make ends meet. This leads to a high turnover rate and a lack of service continuity for the people we support,” said Markland.

A developmental services select committee, including MPPs from all three Ontario parties, is currently holding meetings at five different Ontario communities. OPSEU is preparing a report to coincide with the provincial report coming out of these meetings.

- See more at: http://www.opseu.org/news/press2014/january-13-2014.htm#sthash.Ad5uNG9x.dpuf

The reality of a support worker in developmental services

I have worked the field supporting individuals with disabilities of all kinds and individuals with ABI.
Over the years it saddens me to see the individuals do with out on so many levels. Once they pay their rent of approx. 955.00 while being supported in a 24 hour group home leaving them approx. 131.00 per month. Due to cutbacks they are having to pay for their own programming which costs depending on the agency approx. 100.00 a month....thus leaving them 31.00 a month for incidentials.
It is just wrong, it is not their fault they were born with a disability and requires assistance to live on a daily basis. Who can live on 31.00 a month????

I would also like to let you know I have been in this field for 15 years. Over the past decade there has constantly been cutbacks that impact the lives of the individuals due to lack of staffing. Staff are over worked and underpaid. Our organization has cut back so much that we have minimal support staff during the day and RC2's only work day shift. Thus doubling the workload as support staff do not have the same responsibilities. We are mandated by the government and our workload has increased substantially not only by the lack of staffing but due to the increase of paperwork required by the Ontario government to continue getting funding. SO basically they are giving us less money for staffing and increasing our workload. Our days are so stressful at work and unsafe due to behaviours especially because we are usually single staffed.(when I say unsafe it is due to the staff getting hit by the individuals at work, recently one staff was hit 7 times within 30 min) how fair is that!!!
Most nights I end up volunteering 1 hour extra as I run out of time to get my work done. I work 12 hour shifts.... I do not take a break and I end up working extra on my own time just to keep my job.
The individuals I support only have day program to attend in which they pay for as we do not have the staffing to take them into the community.
I am a frustrated staff that feel that the government needs to step it up and increase funding for persons with disabilities. They are hurting the innocent by not giving them the funding they require to live a happy healthy life!
I am also concerned for staff as I feel that all the pressures, risks and stress in the workplace will lead to increased health problems which in turn will increase costs for the government to pay for in health care!

A Dreary Day Brighter

I decided to work in this field when I was 16 years old. I have (had) relatives with special needs on both sides of my family---two aunts who were born in the 50s yet both lived at home against the doctors’ advice. I was able to be around both of them and realize that even though they were "different" they were family and were unique in their own way. Growing up I saw both the good and bad of people when out with my aunts and realized that too many people had a negative view of the "handicapped" and felt that people with special needs needed people who cared to support them. As my mom took the DSW course and also works in this field I was again able to see a broader spectrum of special needs and realized that being able to support people was something I could do and so well. Working in this field has allowed me to make connections with people and seeing people I supported over 20 years ago and see their face light up and talk about things we did is very heart warming. This job allows me to do things that I probably would not be able to do in other occupations and to support people to local events as well as events elsewhere. I have been fortunate to meet many people who with one or two words can make a dreary day brighter.

Thanks

Ken Maclaim

Dear Minister McMeekin,

I am a support worker for the developmentally disabled; the people I support rely on me to live a life of intrinsic value, equality, and inclusion. The supports that we provide have enabled individuals living with a disability to achieve goals and change their lives. Without adequate funding for the much needed supports and housing this province has an ever growing waitlist of 20,000 vulnerable people, and in Thunder Bay we face a waitlist of 160 people awaiting residential services and over 200 people awaiting day services. It is an outrage that provincial government will potentially cut funding to a sector that is already seriously underfunded. This waitlist makes very little movement; one way to get off this list is to be considered “in crisis”. In this community in 2010 we had a very sad situation occur with a person awaiting residential care, this individual was living with her aging mother and her mother passed away in the home it was estimated by the police, that it had been hours that this individual had been left alone in the home, before she was able to come to an understanding that there was something wrong with her mother and eventually called 911. This should never have had to happen to this woman and as result of this situation she now has post traumatic stress, however she is off the waitlist.

The provincial government demands that agencies place people in residence if there is an open bed, often times with roommates that are not compatible.  The outcome of such placements can become frustrating for the residences that already reside in the home; as well as, the people being placed in the site. This frustration level and lack of compatibility can and has resulted in violent situations both for workers and individuals.  There is no extra funding for transition; there is no additional or permanent funding for supports and this has created inadequate levels of staffing the end result of which is an unsafe living and work environment. Imagine what it would feel like to have no choice in whom you live with or where you will be living. These are vulnerable people that rely on us to ensure they are protected and safe and they deserve better. The provincial government needs to do better, and stop cutting our public services.

 Erin Smith-Rice