Kate Riordan bustles into the kitchen of her mother, Debbie Dionne, waving an arm to release herself from her jacket. The jacket flies onto the kitchen island and Kate’s hands go to her head in exasperation. With cerebral palsy, osteoporosis, arthritis and an intellectual disability, it’s hard for Kate to manage her world sometimes.
Kate is also basically nonverbal, but the words she does have, coupled with an augmentative speech application on her iPad and a full array of signs and gestures, she has little difficulty making herself understood.
Dionne has been a strong advocate for her daughter, 36, who grew up in Brunswick where Dionne taught at Brunswick Junior High for 35 years before moving to Georgetown.
“These are all the various things that I’m concerned about — all these supports that won’t be able to happen,” Dionne said.
Dionne was referring to the Department of Health and Human Services’ possible new tool for assessing services for adults with disabilities. The Supports Intensity Scale assigns a number to adults with disabilities on a scale of one to five with five being the highest need for care.
If adopted, many adults with disabilities like Kate, who lives in a home run by the Independence Association, may be considered too independent for the level of services they are provided — especially if they appear to be doing especially well in their environment.
Essentially, Kate and many like her may have the number of hours of care they receive reduced, stretching staffing and ultimately staff and client safety to the limit.
Through her iPad, Kate said, “Community Works — Dan — I would like to work with recycling,” her face beaming. Dan is a favorite staff member of Kate’s at Community Works.
Kate worked for 10 years at TJ Maxx before corporate changes in policy gave her job to someone who could multi-task better. She also worked at Sears unpacking items in the warehouse.
“The wonderful thing is she still has relationships with the people where she worked at. We’ll go to TJ Maxx and lots of people that know her will come up to her and say hi — the same thing at Sears,” Dionne said.
In her group home, Kate lives with three others where they all participate in various chores as well as meal planning and preparation.
Kate also plans meals for when she’s at home. Dionne said the two communicate via the Facetime app and Kate tells her what she wants for breakfast, lunch and dinner. At home, she likes to put in a little mother daughter time, hunkered in the living room and watching the Hallmark Channel.
Dionne said she will often have Kate’s roommates out with her for dinner and crafts. She said the girls are like family to Kate and an extended family to Dionne.
“She leads a very active life. The hard part is that that’s going to change drastically because the supports will be less and they’ll be more house-bound,” Dionne said.
Dionne said she’s very worried about changes in the level of care if the SIS is approved. With Kate’s osteoporosis and mobility challenges, a fall can, and has for her in the past, proven tragic. Reduced staffing will also affect quality of life issues for Kate, who is used to going to work, bowling and being an active part in her community.
“They all live very full, rich, valid lives and I see that taking a real big hit. (The SIS) feels like it’s being snuck under the radar and it’s going to happen regardless of how much we’ve done to try to educate people,” Dionne said.
Dionne said the five different funding levels of the SIS have been compressed into three, with Kate being deemed to be a level two. Dionne said this distressed her, as she read the description of a level two and felt it did not look like her daughter. Level two would put Kate in the range of low to moderate medical or behavioral needs.
Dionne said Kate needs around the clock care and monitoring, as she needs a lot of support for personal care, personal safety and her inability to even call 911 if there was an emergency.
Other concerns with the SIS is compounding the issue of the revolving door of direct support professionals that come and go. Demanding work, long hours and limited pay will be further stretched as demands on DSPs increases. Dionne said that around Christmas time, the Independence Association had 35 DSP vacancies they were trying to fill.
“I think we’re lucky in the Brunswick-Topsham area. I think that our folks are very welcomed and embraced. I think it has enriched our community greatly — they’re very supportive,” Dionne said.
FOUR-PART SERIES:
• On Tuesday: A look at Dave Baker, an individual with disabilities who functions with a degree of independence
• Today: A look at Kate Riordan, an individual with moderate disabilities
• On Thursday: A look at Brandon Ladner, an individual with severe disabilities
• On Friday: A look at the proposed Supports Intensity Scale for allocating resources to those with disabilities
dmcintire@timesrecord.com
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