Working in the Disability Services Field in the Private Sector is a bit complicated as there are many ways in which we are held accountable both by ourselves and other organizations, to ensure we are responsible to the quality of care we provide. Disability services can be split, for relative ease of explanation, into two categories, the public and private sector. Each person who is supported by either sector must go through a formal application process through the government agency called PDD (Persons with Developmental Disabilities). Once an assessment has been completed and a client receives an "allocation" (funding dollar amount used to provide supports to the individual while meeting their required needs) PDD, with the help of the individual and their natural support network, select an agency to support them. The main area where public and private agencies differ is not in the direct care they provide, however, more in which clients are supported and how much support can be provided for the allotted allocation. Private agencies, like the one I work in, are more likely (not always) to be able to provide more support per $ than public as well as tend to be more willing to take on more complex cases (higher behavioural needs, addictions, legal issues etc.). Ultimately, each agency is different and it comes down to which environment the potential client enjoys the best, what services the agency is willing to provide for the allocation, and the availability/room the agency has to take on the client.
I explain all this as, although we don't have a formal board, each agency has a contract with PDD, thus there are certain outcomes that must be met to maintain this contract. These outcomes are specific to each contract however almost all include 6 month and annual reporting, audits, documentation, policies and procedures, as well as maintaining certain standards of care as it relates to each client, depending on which program they are supported in. Additionally, while accounting to PDD as a whole, our agency also undergoes an external audit every 3 years. This audit is delivered by ACDS (Alberta Council of Disability Services) and called CET (Creating Excellence Together). This audit is a 3 day long process (although we are constantly prepping and changing during the 3 year period between audits to adapt our processes to the changing standards) addressing three areas of the agency:
1. Quality of Service provided to the individuals we support
2. Quality of Life to which we help those we support achieve
3. Organizational Framework of the agency to ensure proper functioning
The audit is extensive: encompassing interviews of our staff, management, board of directors, clients, and the guardians of clients, as well as a full review of financial records and program documentation. The standards by which we are evaluated change as things progress both politically and socially in our society as well as as ACDS discovers innovative ways in which agencies, like the one I am a part of, support people and help them achieve the greatest quality of life possible.
Outside of both of these methods of accountability we also hold ourselves accountable with our upper management and board of directors, to which I sit on, driving change and holding every one of our managers accountable to their job duties, everyday.
The disabilities service field is highly regulated, rightfully so, as we deal with peoples lives each and every day. Holding everyone accountable to their actions, the quality of their support, and ensuring the rights of the clients we support are upheld in every situation, is very important in providing dignity and excellent care. Because of this high regulation, as well as the breadth of involvement disability services has we interact with many different organizations and agencies each and every day. To go into detail of every organization we have had some interaction with would take more than the scope of this blog post however I will stick to a few important ones.
Providing someone support in where ever their needs lie afford us the ability to interact with all kinds of professionals. The Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee (OPGT) acts as decision makers for many of our clients who are deemed unable to make safe decisions for themselves. As support workers we need to work with them to provide the best options for supporting the individuals needs. We work with trustees who help manage funds to which we distribute to the client and help pay for things like bills, buy groceries, and pay for activities they enjoy. We aid in communicating with all types of the medical profession including doctors, psychiatrists, dentists, optometrists, nutritionists, specialists etc. as we help document and convey medical concerns and translate into plain language for the individuals we support to understand. We work with additions councillors, landlords, lawyers, judges, police and RCMP to help develop community treatment plans to enable them to understand the specific individuals needs and advocate for them should they not understand consequences to their actions or need tailored help from any of these systems. And, most importantly, we act as advocates within the community for the individuals we support each and everyday.
Working in disability services sector has afforded me the opportunity to network with many different organizations and meet many interesting people in all types of professions. We are required to be a "jack of all trades" when it comes to a lot of situations however, need to be skilled in understanding our scope of knowledge and have the resources to connect people to tailored professionals depending on what they need.
As a lot of people work in the health care field has anyone ever interacted with someone in the disability services field? Do you have any positive or negative experiences? Working in upper management I am always curious as to how society views our staff interactions and obviously in implementing and sourcing appropriate training to provide to our employees to make them as capable as possible in the field.
Brayden Sharp-Chrunik, BSc.
Comments