Cheers To Women’s History Month!
We at PCCS have long been advocates for equity in our communities, and that includes women’s rights. From the right to vote, to own property, to breaking glass ceilings and fighting for equitable wages, to standing in solidarity to the heroes of the #MeToo movement, we support a world of equity and inclusion: for all. We’re aware of the challenges women face, especially in our field; not only are women more likely to be treated for depression and twice as likely to experience anxiety (among other mental health issues), but women and girls with disabilities are more often negatively impacted in finding housing, adequate medical care, employment, and more. We know that women’s rights and equity is hand in hand with disability rights, and makes for a better quality of life for us all.
Our Deputy Executive Director, Alexa Donnelly is just one of the many female leaders we are blessed to work with in PCCS, and for Women’s History Month, she shared some kind words on her experience, the obstacles women face today, and the hope that carries us forward.
“I have been blessed and privileged through my career so far, not only at PCCS but my other employment opportunities as well, to have female leaders pioneering the way for women. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic that our world has been experiencing, I’m not sure we’ve taken enough time to acknowledge the role of women and how they have kept our society going. This statement isn’t to take away from men and all the powerful and important roles they play as well, but yet to highlight the strength of women. In just my experience at PCCS I have seen women tackle it all, especially during this time: mothering; home school teaching; full time employee; student; family caregiver; homemaker; community leader and more. Many women have had to take a leave from the workforce during the pandemic to tend to their homes and families due to the closure of what we knew our lives to be like, and many have figured out a way to juggle it all. I am honored to work alongside some of the strongest women I know that embrace strength, resilience, and create a sense of belonging for women in our workforce. We have collectively come together to tackle whatever this world has thrown at us. I have been so humbled by being a part of leadership team at PCCS that is predominately female and breaking down the barriers society has put on us – in a global pandemic, no less. Some immediate stereotypes that come to mind include:
- Single mothers can’t work full time and be present for their children.
- Women can’t lead fully without men because they are too emotional to make difficult decisions
- Too many women working together is never good because it’s too drama filled – you need men in the mix to alleviate that
- Women won’t be taken seriously unless accompanied by a man’s power and presence
- Women who are homemakers can’t hack it in the workforce
Of course there’s more, but these are some of the ones I’ve seen our female leadership team demolish, and I am here for it. So, to all our PCCS leaders and women everywhere – here’s to you – always showing up, always making it happen – CHEERS TO WOMENS MONTH!”
Redesigning Our Services
We have been living in over 3 decades of person-centeredness, self-determination. Yet, we’ve been oppressed by pre-packaged, one-size fits-all services controlled by non-disabled so-called experts. For years, our supports have been cut, defunded or as the so-called experts say, Transformed. Well, here we are again, faced with more defunding and alarmingly so during a World-Wide Pandemic. In this short-time, these past few months, over 4,000 people with intellectual/developmental disabilities have been infected with Covid 19 and almost 500 people with intellectual/developmental disabilities have died due to Covid 19- and the numbers keep rising. Well, we’ve had Enough! We agree with the so-called experts it is time for transformation, but it is our time, it is time for us, self-advocates, our parents and our support staff to transform and reconfigure the services we need. We know first-hand, we are the Experts, of what supports we need to belong to our communities, to connect and communicate with neighbors, friends and make new ones. We know what supports we need to live, to survive and to exist. It is in this moment we rise up not to Save Our Services but to Design Our Services, the way we see it/live it.
best
cRis marchioNNe
DSP Week: Thank You from Andrew
Dear DSPs,
I would like to take this moment to thank you all for your due diligence and hard work during this unprecedented time. As we all must cope and adjust during this change, we will forever remember this point in our lives. DSPs have worked hard and dedicated yourselves to the true mission of what it means to be an employee of PCCS, by putting the people we support first. For this, I am grateful and proud to be able to work with all of you during this time. “We are one” and “DSP strong” are two phrases that will always be used when referring to you, not just through this time, but forever. Thank you again as we recognize you, the DSP, for all your hard work and dedication.
Andrew Brown,
Program Manager of Day Supports
DSP Week: Thank You, from Nicole F.
Dear DSPs,
In the 15 years I have worked in this field, I have never felt so honored to work along side ALL of you. Your daily drive, motivation, and sacrifice that you have made during these trying times has been amazing. With each beating second, you have changed the lives of those we support and have provided them with hope, dignity, and continue to assist them along the sidelines of their independence.
Your role is truly one of a kind, and is like a chameleon. You are a teacher, friend, family, nurse, and continue to ride the waves with the people you support as they come. You have ensured the safety and wellbeing throughout one of the wildest times in history. As a DSP, you deserve a medal of honor, an award for being a hero daily. We faced challenges and had to be creative during these times, but you all have adapted your own way of life in order to lift up the lives that you support on a daily basis.
So, you see, the role of a DSP is anything but an easy one; however, it is beyond meaningful. Change and uncertainty can be uncomfortable, but discomfort make us stronger and more resilient. I am confident in this; we will become stronger and more resilient. You have stepped up at a time when most people would have stepped away. I cannot thank you all enough for your dedication.
All the best,
Nicole Forgione
Community Living Specialist
Juneteenth: A Message From Our Executive Director
#PeopleAtPCCS: Andrew Brown
As we begin to transition back into our new normal, one program that had to quickly pivot their foundation was our Day Supports. Coming from a background of case management and human services, Andrew Brown, Program Manager, is using his skills of communication, common sense, and most importantly, relatability, to help helm the ship into new waters, and all the opportunities it affords.
“I love engaging people,” he says about the role, and that appreciation helps him overcome the challenges inherent in the program. Our Day Habilitation has been without walls, pairing a group of people we support with two staff and bringing them into the community to tackle goals, volunteer, learn new skills, and more. This, combined with participants who have a variety of backgrounds and home lives, makes consistent communication across all channels necessary. Despite being an obstacle, Andrew’s ability to relate to his staff, people he supports, and his genuine interest in giving them his all, makes it not only easier, but worth it. “Any way you can assist, even to help the families,” he says, can help bring real change to our members, achieving goals, and finding resolutions to their personal challenges. That brings an added benefit: “No day is ever the same!”
Day Hab has transitioned to new options such as telehealth, and Com Hab in Lieu of Day Hab, where Andrew supervises his staff in more personal, one to one pairings, limiting concerns of exposure in the current pandemic. “We’re still here to support people,” he mentions, both in terms of the program continuing to run, as well as the underlying ethos of our agency. He promotes creativity and of course, communication, to find new solutions and to make sure the services continue to run to those who need it most. He acknowledges newer problems they face, such as consistent changes as the field as a whole finds its footing in these uncertain times, but he’s confident they can figure it out, together; he states the biggest asset in his department by far is teamwork. Together, he feels that they can overcome whatever may present itself, and continue to bring inclusion, joy, and positivity, to our members, and their families.
An Open Letter From Our Director of Community Supports
#PeopleAtPCCS: Nicole Forgione
“When people think of a disability, people think of it only in one way,” says our Community Living Specialist, Nicole Forgione. The stigma against people with disabilities and what they can accomplish in life leads to a level of uncertainty about services we provide, especially one like ISS: a program that helps people with disabilities find independent living. “They just need someone who believes in them.”
Nicole has been at Person Centered Care Services for six years, running our ISS department, after over fifteen years in the field of disabilities. Coming to our agency was no issue with Nicole; she mentions how she adapted quickly to the idea of person-centered approaches after being person-centered herself. “[In previous jobs], I would ask, why can’t they do X, what if they don’t like Y, how can we do Z, and really help the people we support get to where they need to go?” This practice would help her tailor the ISS department to suit every individual need; no two people are alike and no two apartments are, either, and Nicole pairs a 20 hour Com Hab worker to most cases, finding a good fit to help their goals.
It isn’t always easy: Nicole cites two major hurdles, accessibility to apartments and neighborhoods, and clarity of what the program entails to the greater community at large. Many people have (often negative) preconceived notions on having people with disabilities in their neighborhood, and landlords don’t realize the benefits of having an ISS supported apartment, and the longevity our members have as tenants. This is combined with the obstacles of the current health pandemic, and having to reconsider the needs of their members: any are just as confused as we are about the rules and restrictions stemming from it.
However, the rewards are innumerable: what keeps her going is seeing people who have lived in nursing homes, have been in homeless shelters, in group homes in which they’ve been told they’ll never live independently. She’s worked with our agency to not only help those who are part of the program, but also spread advocacy efforts to educate people that anyone can do anything, from any point in their lives. Now she has survivors of brain surgery, college graduates, and more, among her ISS roster.
That success drives her to want even more for the department: “I want my legacy to be in this program, to make sure the department is doing it’s best and all it can do to help.”
What Is A DSP?: Direct Support In Health Crises
In these strange times we’re finding the world in, the respect for people who work in the health care field has grown steadily, as they continue to risk their health and safety by performing their essential duties to society. Nurses, doctors, and many other health care workers work diligently while many Americans stay at home to flatten the curve of this epidemic we find ourselves in. In our gratitude to these medical professionals, we also must honor the duties the direct support professionals serve for the population of people with disabilities. But what is a DSP?
A Direct Support Professional is defined by Wikipedia as “…people who work directly with people with physical disabilities and/or intellectual disabilities with the aim of assisting the individual to become integrated into his/her community or the least restrictive environment.” To say that, though, doesn’t define the value of direct support, doesn’t portray the range of roles they play daily, especially in a public crisis such as this, doesn’t speak of the people behind these roles.
While much of the country stays home to combat the health crisis, one DSP leaves his two month old baby to help someone we support learn to cook healthy meals.
While there are Instagram Live dance parties for everyone to have a good time at home, another DSP works overnight to ensure people in our residences are safe at home and can sleep peacefully.
While we pour over the news to learn more about the new reality we live in, yet another DSP leaves her own family to ensure the people we support get the medication they need, and in some cases, the skills in order to take those medications themselves to further their independence.
While we scour our own apartments to ensure our personal safety, our DSPs are going to homes to ensure their safety.
Direct Support Professionals are our friends, our neighbors, our brothers, sisters, cousins, family members, members of our community, and in these difficult times, they are doing what they do best. They are advocating for people we support, they are teaching valuable life skills, they are ensuring their safety and support, they are leaving the comfort of their homes and families to help those who need more assistance.
When we give our thanks, when we advocate for more funding for our agencies to give back to the DSPs and staff in the midst of a confusing, scary crisis, these are the people we talk about. Our family.
To help us in this time of need, you can donate here, and continue to support those who support a vulnerable population in trying times, those with disabilities.