We Need to Pay Direct Service Providers More: Community Provider Network of RI LIVE
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Tina Spears, the Executive Director of the Community Provider Network of Rhode Island, appeared on GoLocal LIVE to talk about where the organization is a year into the pandemic — and what it needs moving forward.
"Our organization supports approximately 3,500 individuals in the community with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and that ranges from in-home supports, employment supports, and all the way up to the highest level of care which is congregate care, most commonly known as group home settings,” said Spears.
“Certainly, COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on our service delivery and the community we support. So during COVID, just like everyone else, we really had to shut our doors to many families in need of services as well as really take some very rigid precautionary measures for the safety and wellness of our community,” she added. “And that’s really counter-intuitive to our goals for inclusion in our society and making sure that we have equal rights and access for every individual.”
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“That’s been pretty traumatic for us as a community. What I will say is we've gone through it, we’ve learned from it, and we’re ready to move forward now,” she said.
Call for Investment
“Our number one priority right now is rebuilding services — we are in an investment ask. We are looking to see that the individuals we support have access to services and we really in order to do that we need staff, and unfortunately it’s been a long journey through COVID,” said Spears.
“We’re a Medicaid provider system and as you know the budget has been taxed over the years and that has resulted in low wages for workers that we employ. Our big ask for our policymakers and the General Assembly is $17.50 an hour for our direct service providers,” she said. “Those are the individuals that do the most hands-on work, those are the individuals that support someone in the community, and that’s really where our priority sits at the moment.”
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