BRUNSWICK

The state of Maine has reached a crisis point in hiring and maintaining enough direct support professionals to care for the number of individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism.

Providers, such as the Brunswick-based Independence Association, are trying to head off yet another dangerous state-funding model for the sake of the safety and quality of life for both its consumers and workers. However, they are finding it to be an uphill battle.

Last year, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services attempted to institute a new funding model, the Supports Intensity Scale, in order to rein in costs — the SIS would have been devastating to service organizations and families of individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism, service providers feared.

Though the SIS ended up being a nonstarter, efforts remained underway to force agencies to provide more for less.

As Independence Association Executive Director Ray Nagel put it, “The state of our industry is in absolute turmoil.”

Nagel said in 2005 the state hired Roger Deshaies through the Muskie School to conduct a study on rates in Maine between 2000 and 2005. The state set a rate of $25.39 per hour to provide services to people with disabilities.

“That same rate today is $22.32 an hour,” Nagel said.

“All of that was done under the Baldacci administration. Nobody bitched about it because it was a Democratic-controlled government. So, the social services industry didn’t put up a fight — they just took it,” Nagel added.

Nagel recalled a conversation with the executive director of John F. Murphy Homes, Peter Kowalski, expressing his dismay that their industry would come under fire from a Democrat.

“He said, it doesn’t matter what party — that’s why you can’t show favor between Democrats or Republicans in our business because everybody wants to balance a budget and our people are the low hanging fruit because our people can’t complain,” Nagel said.

According to Nagel, that rate has been adjusted up and down over the years and is currently 11.6 percent less per hour than it was nine years ago.

“If Maine had stuck with the original rate and adjusted it every two years — if we adjusted it with the rate of inflation, the rate would be $29.44 an hour,” Nagel said.

Putting those numbers together, between the original 2007 pay rate, plus the rate of inflation over the last nine years, Nagel said support staff are currently being paid 31 percent less than they should.

Currently, there are 45 agencies in the state providing services to individuals with disabilities with a combined workforce of almost 12,000.

Those agencies carry a combined operational budget of nearly $437 million and an annual payroll of more than $256 million.

“Our average staff vacancy rate is over 10 percent and the average turnover rate for direct support professionals is 40 percent or higher statewide,” Nagel said.

Nagel said that many agencies can’t accept new consumers — especially those with high behavioral or medical needs, because they cannot attract the staff to support them.

“Our agency’s average wage is $11.16 an hour for a DSP — nobody wants to work for that wage,” Nagel said. “And we pay higher than almost any agency around. That’s our average — that’s not our starting.”

Looking ahead, this series will delve into the new funding model the state is proposing to further defund agencies around the state and the challenge of keeping underpaid and overworked support staff caring for their clients.

With an average pay range of less than $1,800 a month gross and the average unfurnished one-bedroom apartment in the Bath and Brunswick area at just over $900, how can pay keep up with the demands of making ends meet?

COMING UP: What is a day in the life of a DSP is really like? What’s it like balancing a love for providing care with the danger, dirty work and little to show for it? How are the facts and figures rolled around in Augusta affecting both safety and quality of life issues for workers and clients alike?