Special Message: LSS Vice
President of Community Services
Dear Friends of LSS,
Each year, in this issue
of Changing Lives, I attempt to update readers about our support for
persons with developmental disabilities. Each year, I have difficulty
choosing from a long list of accomplishments and equally long list of
plans to improve our services. After worrying about what to say, I
remember that the bulk of this issue is devoted to telling the stories of
the individuals we support. I know that the stories of those we serve
contain the most important information.
Probably the most
publicized news of the last year was the State budget deficit and the
actions taken to balance the budget. Initially the Governor's budget
proposed a 4% rate cut to services for persons with developmental
disabilities. Strong advocacy and hard work by families, staff and elected
officials resulted in a smaller cut of 1%. This sounds small but it has a
large impact on an organization like LSS that serves more than 600 persons
with developmental disabilities across Minnesota. Unfortunately, this cut
also occurs at a time when we are faced with large cost increases in the
areas of insurance and energy. Faced with the 1% cut and increased costs,
LSS was forced to reduce the number of staff we employ and to freeze the
pay of the caring and capable people in our workforce. This is especially
difficult since our direct care workers are not highly paid to begin with,
and they face increased costs of health care and other aspects of daily
living. With fewer dollars it will be harder to meet our vision of
assuring "that people live and work in community with dignity, safety and
hope".
Much less publicized are
the many positive accomplishments of the past year. The trend from
institution-based services to community-based services continues with
great success. During the early 1960s, many people with developmental
disabilities were cared for in large institutions called state hospitals.
All the state hospitals have closed, remnants of ways we once thought were
the best to care for the vulnerable. At LSS, we are in the final stages of
converting our larger residences from Intermediate Care Facilities for the
Mentally Retarded (ICFs/MR) to smaller family-scale homes that offer
supportive services on site. St. Stephen's Group Homes in Bloomington and
the Gethsemane Home in Virginia (12 residents each) will have transformed
into smaller homes by year-end. Stories about each of these
transformations are included in this issue of Changing Lives.
The past year saw
significant improvement in our staff training with completion of improved
training materials for direct support professionals and a new training
manual for supervisory staff. To ensure that LSS continues to offer
quality services that are sensitive to individual needs, we are pursuing
accreditation by The Council on Quality and Leadership (The Council). The
Council focuses upon individual planning and achieving positive outcomes
for each person supported by LSS. We are beginning our second year of
Council training, and we expect to complete accreditation in the next two
years.
Looking to the future,
we expect to accomplish two large objectives next year. The first is
transforming LSS services so that we can deliver consumer-directed
community services anywhere in Minnesota. This approach to services allows
individuals with developmental disabilities or their guardians to play a
greater role in designing and directing their own support services and
systems. This is an empowering model of service in which an individual or
their guardian has a larger say in what services are purchased, at what
price, and from whom. It allows a service recipient to purchase services
more like an informed consumer, using competition and free market forces
to help them receive the support they need at the best value.
The second objective is
to improve our information systems and administration so that LSS is a
more responsive and efficient organization. The principal building block
of this improvement is a new information system, Evolv, which will be
operational on October 1, 2003. After the usual period of new learning and
problem-solving, we expect to significantly improve the information we
have about the services we provide and the efficiency of our
administrative processes. Such efficiencies are essential to the future as
we strive to invest as much as possible in service delivery and
compensation for direct support professionals.
Finally, I want to say
that I feel very privileged to be a part of the dedicated and caring LSS
staff working every day to achieve our mission of service. Every second of
every day there are LSS staff across Minnesota providing support to
persons with developmental disabilities so that they may live and work in
community with dignity, safety and hope.
Bob York
VP Community Services
