Albany Times Union, Saturday August 26,2023

By Andy Tsubasa Field

The July 19 letter sent by Catholic Charities Disabilities Services

Executive Director Paula Jubic, and obtained by the Times Union,

tells potential clients to withdraw help requests.

ALBANY — A leading nonprofit’s disability services department is turning away potential clients due to a lack of staff.

A July 19 letter sent by Catholic Charities Disabilities Services Executive Director Paula Jubic, obtained by the Times Union, tells potential clients to withdraw help requests. The letter said an ongoing staffing crisis has prevented the department from responding to all requests for services.

“Should you wish to reconsider services through CCDS in the future, your care manager can assist you in doing so, or you may choose to seek services through another agency providing these services which can address your needs in a timely manner,” the letter said.

Jubic said Catholic Charities Disabilities Services has 83 residential staff members, 70 fewer than needed to properly assist residents of its properties. She said the department temporarily closed two houses due to limited staffing and has considered shutting down another where five women who use wheelchairs live. For its largest 14- and 12-bed properties, she said her department is barely scraping by to meet a three-person fire safety standard.

“We’re not getting to people. If they need to go to the bathroom and there are only a few people on and there’s something going on with someone else, that person is waiting,” Jubic said. “And then you’re trying to do medication for 14 people at the same time and each person could have 10 different meds.”

Jubic said CCDS worked with the New York Alliance for Inclusion and Innovation to push for an 11.5 percent cost of living adjustment for those working in nonprofit programs. The actual increase was far lower, meaning the nonprofit could only raise service providers’ wages to $16.80 after undergoing training.

Additionally, Jubic said longtime staff retired during the pandemic, and others more recently have left for higher-paying jobs due to inflation. The staffing shortages have led to administrators covering provider shifts more frequently, she said.

“Weekly, like every week,” said Jubic, who has worked for Catholic Charities for 15 years. “I’ve never seen it to the likes of this.”

Catholic Charities is far from alone in facing staffing shortages.

Agencies that provide human services have for years complained that they don’t get enough state funding to attract enough employees to their workforces.

That problem may have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted numerous retirements, and the inflation in recent years, which have forced people to seek as high a wage as possible.

In June 2022, Catholic Charities closed its Mercy House women and children’s shelter citing a falling headcount and difficulty staffing the 19-bed emergency shelter.

A Message From the CEO

May 1, 2023

The final result of the New York State budget is deeply disappointing for New Yorkers with I/DD and the families and providers who support them. Below you will find The Arc New York’s official statement on the budget.Please share this message, and your own. Be assured, these statements do not mark the end of this year’s advocacy efforts. They mark the beginning of our fight moving forward. The budget is disappointing, but we have more to advocate for before this session ends. Our issues are better understood today, the voices of New Yorkers with I/DD are better heard, and we will mobilize to ensure the support of state leaders translates to action.

The Arc New York Statement on the NYS BudgetThe final NYS budget was released today, and we are truly stunned by the inadequate investment in our service system. Nonprofit providers of supports and services for New Yorkers with intellectual and developmental disabilities will receive a mere 4% cost of living increase.This minimal increase covers less than half the increase in inflation over the past year. It does nothing to reverse our escalating workforce crisis. Most importantly, it does not address the erosion of care and supports for New Yorkers with I/DD.Paired with the reality of inflation, a 4% COLA has become essentially a 4.5% cut.New Yorkers with I/DD needed meaningful investment to sustain quality supports and care. Our staff needed meaningful investment to align their compensation with their skill and dedication. We called for an 8.5% COLA and a Direct Support Wage Enhancement to meet those needs. The legislature included an 8.5% COLA and no DSWE in their budgets. We advocated fiercely for that compromise to be realized, but the end result is entirely inadequate.We are grateful to the tireless advocates who raised their voices and their stories with passion and power. We thank our Champions in the legislature who fought for our families, staff, and the people we support.We are devastated that we have not been heard.State leaders put the care and quality of life New York’s most vulnerable citizens up for negotiation. Their final agreement continues a pattern of neglect we fought for decades to overcome.That fight is not over. We will grow louder. We will grow fiercer. We will not let New Yorkers with I/DD be forgotten.

Advocates for the human services sector are disappointed by the state’s investments in the workforce, a key component of the struggling mental health system

ALBANY —  The state budget that’s expected to be finalized this week will include a raft of policies meant to address a struggling mental health sector, a stated policy goal for Democratic leaders this year as New York is grappling with workforce shortages and the post-pandemic effects on the industry. 

Gaps in the state’s historically underfunded mental health system have been a priority for Gov. Kathy Hochul, and one that remained relatively unscathed throughout the ongoing budget negotiations. Hochul touted the infusion of $1 billion into the sector last week as she announced a framework for this year’s state budget.

“Today marks a reversal in our state’s approach, a monumental shift,” Hochul said, pointing to a plan for additional psychiatric beds and increased outpatient services. 

But advocates for the human services sector said they are disappointed by the state’s investments in the workforce. The budget calls for a 4 percent cost of living adjustment, or COLA, for individuals who work in nonprofit programs. Those workers provide many of the same services as facilities run by the state workforce and are licensed and regulated through state agencies.

Hochul’s initial budget proposal had included a 2.5 percent adjustment. But many workers in the mental health sector and other human service industries decried that offer, swarming the Capitol in recent weeks to call for a much higher target of 8.5 percent.

The final agreement has left advocates frustrated, said Glenn Liebman, who leads the Mental Health Association of New York State. He said their original request was to keep funding for workers in lockstep with inflation that has challenged workforce retention.

“We’re concerned about their support,” Liebman said of the Legislature, which had originally included a much higher COLA in its one-house budgets than what ultimately was agreed on. “This will lead to people leaving our system and taking other jobs. Why would you stay in a job dealing with people with complex needs when you could go to a service industry job and make just as much money with a lot less pressure, right?”

Advocates have also pointed to potential disparity issues; much of the mental health workforce is staffed by women of color. The COLA will also affect direct care workers through other state agencies that provide services to the state’s most vulnerable residents, like those with disabilities or struggles with substance abuse, including the Office of Addiction Services and Supports, and the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.

Liebman noted some positive developments, including a provision mandating that insurance companies reimburse school-based mental health clinics that provide outpatient care for school-aged children.

Some Democratic lawmakers are also cheering the inclusion of a task force studying “Daniel’s Law,” legislation that would empower mental health responders rather than police officers to show up to distress calls when people are experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis.

The budget allocates $1 million to establish a 10-member task force studying the roll out of the law. Members will solicit feedback statewide over the next two and a half years before submitting a report to the governor’s office with final recommendations on whether to implement the system statewide.

Named after a Rochester man who died during an encounter with police while he was experiencing a mental health crisis in 2020, the law aims to shift away from a reliance on police during emergency calls. In recent weeks, the measure had been bolstered by publicized incidents involving police force during non-emergency calls.

Bill sponsor state Sen. Samra Brouk, D-Rochester, has emphasized the connection between Hochul’s focus on public safety and mental health and the legislation, calling it a logical approach to lessen the likelihood of violent interactions between people with mental illnesses and police responders. 

The budget also calls for another task force studying maternal mental health, including postpartum depression and anxiety. Lawmakers have previously called attention to the high maternal mortality rate in the state; the state Department of Health has listed mental health as the third-leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths. 

An earlier version of this story misstated the parameters of Daniel’s Law in this year’s budget appropriations. It’s being launched through a task force with a $1 million allocation. 

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But advocates for the human services sector said they are disappointed by the state’s investments in the workforce. The budget calls for a 4 percent cost of living adjustment, or COLA, for individuals who work in nonprofit programs. Those workers provide many of the same services as facilities run by the state workforce and are licensed and regulated through state agencies.

Hochul’s initial budget proposal had included a 2.5 percent adjustment. But many workers in the mental health sector and other human service industries decried that offer, swarming the Capitol in recent weeks to call for a much higher target of 8.5 percent.

The final agreement has left advocates frustrated, said Glenn Liebman, who leads the Mental Health Association of New York State. He said their original request was to keep funding for workers in lockstep with inflation that has challenged workforce retention.

“We’re concerned about their support,” Liebman said of the Legislature, which had originally included a much higher COLA in its one-house budgets than what ultimately was agreed on. “This will lead to people leaving our system and taking other jobs. Why would you stay in a job dealing with people with complex needs when you could go to a service industry job and make just as much money with a lot less pressure, right?”

Advocates have also pointed to potential disparity issues; much of the mental health workforce is staffed by women of color. The COLA will also affect direct care workers through other state agencies that provide services to the state’s most vulnerable residents, like those with disabilities or struggles with substance abuse, including the Office of Addiction Services and Supports, and the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.

Liebman noted some positive developments, including a provision mandating that insurance companies reimburse school-based mental health clinics that provide outpatient care for school-aged children.

Some Democratic lawmakers are also cheering the inclusion of a task force studying “Daniel’s Law,” legislation that would empower mental health responders rather than police officers to show up to distress calls when people are experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis.

The budget allocates $1 million to establish a 10-member task force studying the roll out of the law. Members will solicit feedback statewide over the next two and a half years before submitting a report to the governor’s office with final recommendations on whether to implement the system statewide.

Named after a Rochester man who died during an encounter with police while he was experiencing a mental health crisis in 2020, the law aims to shift away from a reliance on police during emergency calls. In recent weeks, the measure had been bolstered by publicized incidents involving police force during non-emergency calls.

Bill sponsor state Sen. Samra Brouk, D-Rochester, has emphasized the connection between Hochul’s focus on public safety and mental health and the legislation, calling it a logical approach to lessen the likelihood of violent interactions between people with mental illnesses and police responders. 

The budget also calls for another task force studying maternal mental health, including postpartum depression and anxiety. Lawmakers have previously called attention to the high maternal mortality rate in the state; the state Department of Health has listed mental health as the third-leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths. 

An earlier version of this story misstated the parameters of Daniel’s Law in this year’s budget appropriations. It’s being launched through a task force with a $1 million allocation. 

Albany Times Union

Rega Justin, Monday May 1, 2023