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Authors Posts by Carol Ferenz

Carol Ferenz

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According to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), the definition of pain is “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage”1. As a staff member or a caregiver, it is important to remember that pain is a personal experience. Pain is meant to be a signal of danger to the body, and it can be related to different physical or psychiatric conditions. Untreated pain could lead to a variety of challenging behaviors. If someone is reporting pain, it should be respected and addressed.

However, some people may have difficulty verbalizing if they feel pain or discomfort. Pain can also be communicated behaviorally, through facial grimacing, crying, screaming, aggression, guarding or holding certain body parts, etc. It is the staff or caregiver’s responsibility to learn how to recognize symptoms of pain. PCHC has developed the Management of Pain for People with Intellectual Disabilities and Other Developmental Disabilities booklet. This resource focuses on methods to identify, assess, and manage pain in individuals who depend on others to interpret their unique communications. This important resource can be found on our website or via this link: PCHC’s Management of Pain for People with Intellectual Disabilities and Other Developmental Disabilities.

PCHC has a health promotion activity plan (HPAP) on chronic pain.

Visit here for our other physical health publications.

Source:
1 International Association for the Study of Pain

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Over the past 12 months, direct support professionals (DSPs) have experienced high risks of infection, financial hardship, and exhaustion. Many have become ill and lost loved ones. The voices of DSPs matter, now more than ever. Show them you care about their well-being by passing along this confidential survey. The University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration (ICI), in partnership with the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP), developed this survey to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on direct support professionals and identify the most effective ways to protect DSPs and the people they support. Please visit University of Minnesota’s website to complete the survey.

Please forward this survey to the direct support professionals that you employ, including  paid family members. Their answers will be anonymous. National and state-specific results from the survey will be shared widely in September 2021. Two similar surveys of DSPs were conducted by ICI and NADSP and each was completed by more than 9,000 DSPs. Those results are available here. The new survey is for both DSPs who completed the earlier survey and those who did not.

The results for Pennsylvania are available here.

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Horizontal view of worried disabled senior man

ACL will host a webinar in recognition of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on Wednesday, June 16 at 3:00 pm ET. Dr. Laura Mosqueda, a national and international expert on elder abuse and neglect, will present. Register here to participate.

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ANCOR, in partnership with the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota, has released its DSP Toolkit, to help providers recruit direct support professionals, and to help future DSPs find their right career fit.

As many providers seek qualified direct support professionals, many workers re-entering the workforce may be searching for new career opportunities. The DSP Toolkit offers providers tools such as recruitment videos, interview questions and criteria, and more to build the DSP workforce while offering future recruits tools such as roadmaps to navigate a new career in direct support.

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*If you have already registered, please disregard this reminder*

Time is running out to register for the June 8, 2021 workshop. This workshop should be attended by HR directors, supervisors, and anyone involved in recruiting and hiring. Attendees will leave with simple tools they can use immediately. During the workshop, attendees will collaborate with their peers and leave feeling empowered. All participants in these workshops will leave with a workbook and clear next steps to take back to their organizations to implement what they have learned. Note that you do NOT need any new consultants or software.

Cost — RCPA Members: $99 per session / Non-members: $125 per session

Retention and Culture: Tuesday, June 8, 2021 • 9:00 am–12:30 pm
Retention and Culture: You will learn how to overcome two big challenges that cause new Direct Support Professional (DSP) turnover and how to nurture your culture when you do not have enough time. Learn clear and fast steps to an improved onboarding / training experience so new employees are more likely to stay. You can register for this event here.

Space is limited, so do not delay in registering! For any questions, please contact Carol Ferenz, Director, IDD Division.

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ODP Announcement 21-044 provides instructions to residential provider agencies who do not anticipate being able to meet the current June 30, 2021 deadline for Health Risk Screening Tool (HRST) screens for individuals receiving residential services.

As of June 30, 2021 — the date that ODP established as the extended deadline for completion of the initial Health Risk Screening Tool (HRST) screens for individuals receiving residential services — draws near, ODP recognizes that some providers may having difficulty meeting this timeline. Providers who will not complete all required screenings by June 30, 2021, should contact the Regional Program Office and convey to the Regional Program Manager (RPM) the agency’s current plan to complete the required HRSTs, including the date by which these screens will be completed.

Providers with locations in more than one ODP Region should contact the RPM associated with your assigned Administrative Entity responsible for completing provider qualifications.

Though providers will determine the order in which the remaining HRSTs will be completed, ODP has the following recommendations to help providers ensure that the health and safety needs of the individual are being met:

  • New admissions should be screened as soon as possible following admission once the individual is accessible in the HRST database.
  • Individuals should have an HRST completed within 14 days of any of the following situations:
    • Hospitalization;
    • Injury or illness resulting in treatment beyond first aid;
    • Medication ordered for a new diagnosis;
    • Change in current physical condition or behaviors resulting in increases in the acuity of the service needs;
    • Prescribed change in diet;
    • Choking episode;
    • Unexplained weight loss or gain;
    • New onset of or change in seizure activity;
    • Fecal impaction;
    • Pressure ulcers;
    • Dehydration;
    • New onset or unstable diabetes; and
    • Individual is unable to or declines to follow physician orders for treatment, medication, or other intervention.

As noted in the Pennsylvania Health Risk Screening Tool Protocol Update, each residential provider will identify staff from within the provider organization who will become the trained HRST rater(s). The initial and subsequent HRST screenings must be completed by a trained rater who has completed the HRST online rater training. Assistance with access to the HRST online rater training can be obtained by contacting this email.

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Wednesday, June 9, at 3:00 pm ET

Register for the webinar

Nicole T. Jorwic, JD, Senior Director of Public Policy at The Arc and an expert on the topic of home- and community-based services (HCBS), will provide an overview of the HCBS program. She will describe how it helps people living with paralysis access the supports and serves they need to live independent lives. Nicole will also discuss how Congress and the administration are aiming to protect, invest in, and modernize this system.

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ODP is reminding providers of the importance to complete the 2020 Staff Stability Survey for your organization. We are particularly interested in having a robust response rate this year due to the impact of the pandemic on your workforce. We expect to use the data from this survey to help inform the rate-setting work.

If you are one of the 120 or so who have already completed the survey or determined that your agency is not eligible to complete, thank you, and there is nothing further to do. While we are well on our way to a statistically significant response, over half of our providers have not yet clicked on the survey to open it.

Responses are due by June 30. You should have received an invitation and the personalized survey link from staffstability@hsri.org. Please be sure to check your spam folder or contact Rick Smith if you cannot locate the message. Thank you for your attention to this important survey.

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