Kansans Mobilizing for Direct Support Workforce Change SRS Learning Center, Room B 2600 SW East Circle Drive South Topeka, Kansas

August 17, 2006

Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

In Attendance:

Deena Baker, Bonnie Duden, Sarah Emerick, Doloris Engel, Dan Hermreck. Bobbie Keller, Monty King, Tracy Price, Gary Merklein, Mark Newbold, Kathy Olson, Kelly Smith, Kathy Stiffler, Melanie Smith, Amy Swanson, Mary Jo Temple, Kathy Walter

Welcome to new members:

Deena Baker – CCL Amy Swanson - SRS

Updates

• The Moving Mountains Award was presented to Governor Sebelius on June 26th by members including: Dan Hermreck, Kelly Smith, Shelly May, Kathy Olson, Patty Dumovich, Sarah Williams, Sharon Kimbrough and Pricilla Walker. Photos and a letter from Governor Sebelius thanking KMFC for the award, recognizing KMFC accomplishments, and stating continued interest in DSP issues was shared with the group.

• Tracy Price recently shared the second award with Lake Mary Center. Kelly Smith will bring the award to the Annual Arc Ceremony before sending it on to DSNWK.

• CCL has acquired the equipment to begin using CDS. This is wonderful.

College of Direct Support

• We are awaiting the contract for SRS. Amy promised a draft this week.

• CDS will be available to everyone supporting an individual with a developmental disability who receives some type of support from SRS. This includes state hospitals, advocates, community service providers, families, etc. The cost of CDS has increased so the cost next year will be higher.

• The Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities (Kathy Olson) will serve as state administrator. This means that providers will not have to pay $2800. Any organization in Kansas that wants to pay the administrative cost does not have to go through the state administrator. They will be required to submit summary data to assist in determining the impact of CDS.

• Kathy Olson presented a scope of work document reflecting the activities that will be carried out by KUCDD under the contract with SRS:

Activity 1 - Establish a contract with MC Strategies for Kansans to access CDS

Activity 2 - Meet with stakeholders including the Kansans Mobilizing for Change to guide the development and implementation of CDS

Activity 3 - Promote the use of CDS to service providers, self-advocates, and other qualified individuals

Activity 4 - Provide training and technical assistance

Activity 5 - Act as a liaison between users and the College of Direct Support and MC strategies to maintain and to improve access to CDS

Activity 6 - Monitor use of CDS in Kansas

Activity 7 - Encourage the development of certification and career ladders for direct support professionals including the CDS

Activity 8 - Report on the effectiveness of CDS

In anticipation of this CDS contract, KMFC members made the following suggestions: Marketing CDS

• Members volunteered to meet with other providers at CDDO affiliate meetings.
• Volunteers
• Class – Mark and Mary Jo
• DSNWK Gary and Bobbie will check regarding meetings
• Tri-Co – Tracy (Kathy S ?)
• TARC - Dan and Kathy S
• Arrowhead - Kathy Walter
• ComCare – Kathy Walter and others?
• Butler and Sumner Counties (Flint Hills and Futures) Sarah and Deena
• Big Lakes and Nemaha County - Dan
• Cottonwood – Kelly and others
• A small amount of travel money has been written into the budget. It will be available on a first come first serve basis. It is suggested that anyone committing to an extended travel should check on reimbursement by contacting Kathy Olson prior to travel.
• At these meetings it was suggested that we have a packet of information that will capture the interest of providers. It should be informative, attractive and not too lengthy. (Volunteers should let Kathy know how many packets they need,) It was suggested that we provide pocket folders including the following:
• The CDS Brochure (20 pages)

If brochure is not available, course listing and technical information will be provided.

• Kansas contact information for Kathy Olson
• Information about length of availability in Kansas
• Short summaries from current Kansas users/learners about the benefits (we will look through our reports)
• Examples of how Kansas agencies are using CDS and strategies for implementing CDS.
• Address on how to access the CDS website for additional information.
• Old summaries if we have them to discuss the overall DSP workforce problems in Kansas
• Consider whether it would be helpful to access the CDS website and curriculum during presentations.
• The Frequently Asked Questions Document Kathy is developing will be available to the KMFC representative making the presentation but is probably too detailed for inclusion.
• Providers will be encouraged to ask the presenter their questions and to call Kathy Olson for information. Personal contact may be better than a lot of written information.
• Service providers will be contacted via e-mail with basic information about availability of CDS and updates about the benefits. Amy Swanson will help establish a conduit for electronic communication through SRS.
• Information will be placed on the KMFC website.
• Quarterly meetings will continue.
• Kathy Olson will make telephone contacts.
• Kelly Smith will be available to help work with self-advocates.
• Dan Hermreck has submitted a proposal presentation to InterHab.
• Articles in the InterHab-o-gram were suggested
• Mention from Tom Lang at the conference and in other meetings was suggested
• If there is a Direct Support Conference this year, CDS should be there. InterHab members will check.
• It was noted that Earl Fox has volunteered to come to Kansas to speak about NADSP. This information will be shared with InterHab.
• Kathy will refer specific questions about CDS to KMFC members as appropriate
• Kathy Stiffler will share information with Alliance members

Facilitating Implementation

Challenges in implementing CDS relate to a number of logistic and policy issues within an organization. Among these are how to access computers, how to monitor time spent in training, and how to compensate successful candidates. Many KMFC organizations have addressed these and other issues. Members would like to share information related to the ways they have done this. Each organization will determine how it will implement CDS, but strategies used by others may be helpful. Each member who has used CDS is encouraged to write one or more short summary sharing strategies (how tos) for implementation and successes. Forward summaries to Kathy Olson before September 1st. Summaries will be included in packets, PR pieces, and the website as appropriate. Examples of changes that have been seen in the quality of services and DSP attitudes are welcome.

Members agreed that Kathy Olson could share contact information with individuals seeking technical assistance on various aspects of implementation.

Outcomes and Evaluation

KMFC needs to show that CDS is useful and worth the expense. It is difficult to have hard data to show the benefit since there are many variables that could be responsible for improvement.

A small group meet to identify what information can be collected, how to be collected and how to summarize and report this information. Gary Merklein, Kathy Olson, Mark Newbold, and Amy Swanson will meet to help consider how we can review outcomes. The group will meet within the next month via conference call to begin the process.

Outcomes need to be firm enough to convince legislators, supporters, and providers that CDS has value.

We will definitely keep track of:

number of learners enrolled
number of lessons completed
number of agencies involved

We should collect personal accounts of need and benefits from:

self advocates, consumers, and family
DSPs
Supervisors
Service Providers (not as powerful)

The University of Minnesota has an outcome survey for CDS that could be assigned to each staff after completing lessons

We have the capability of developing another survey using CDS web resources.

We believe that CDS:

• will improve the quality of support provided/quality of life for persons receiving services
• will contribute the commitment to the profession, self-esteem, and competence of the learners
• saves money by reducing travel (in rural areas, overtime, and course preparation time
• may reduce the number of incidents
• may reduce workman’s comp claims
• may reduce abuse and neglect
• may increase retention
• may be evident on staff evaluations
• attitudinal barriers may be addressed

We need to prove this. The outcome committee will work on these issues.

Perhaps we should target key legislators to inform them about CDS

We should encourage Matt Fletcher to attend meetings so we can coordinate our efforts with InterHab advocacy efforts.

We should check with the Big Tent and other advocacy groups

Apprenticeship and Credentialing

The Ad Astra Apprenticeship program was developed by KMFC members. It may need revision to assure that we have all of the coursework required at the advanced levels. Some of the CDS topics have changed and not all proposed courses are out as scheduled. The Ad Astra Apprenticeship state committee should meet to review the program to see if the agreement needs to be modified.

The committee will also consider how some of the advanced portfolio assignments and the scheduled meetings are counted in the total hours of related instruction.

The NADSP is developing a national DSP credential based on the CDS. Individuals completing Ad Astra would meet the requirements for the credential. The NADSP credential is still under development but appears to be quite similar to Ad Astra.

Ad Astra does link apprenticeship to pay raises. Ad Astra appears to require more mentoring and meeting. The Ad Astra team feels that these elements contribute to the professional development more than just the coursework.

The Ad Astra state committee (Gary, Bobbie, Bonnie, Kathy and Kathy) will meet via conference call within the next month to discuss these issues.

Bonnie Duden will sponsor an Apprenticeship table at the InterHab conference in Topeka. She needs some KMFC members to assist.

Encouraging Self-Advocates to Use CDS

Kelly Smith reported that a self-advocate reported that the material in the CDS was too hard to read and understand. Kelly will try to find out what the issues are in relation to this individual. It was noted that individuals may have to have a little help to assure that the computer is equipped to handle CDS. PC compatible computers are needed.

Is there a way that self-advocates/consumers could use CDS for staff training without taking the lessons? Perhaps some sort of summary would be helpful.

Kathy Olson will contact Kelly to see what we could do to support self-advocates. Perhaps we need to identify some relevant lessons that self-advocates might want to recommend for their staff. At his time other KMFC members did not have consumers using CDS. This issue needs further exploration.

Monty King and Kelly suggested that a presentation at the annual SACK conference (October 7 and 8) might be useful. Monty will check to see if there is still time to submit a proposal.

Request for Assistance with Research

Kathy Stiffler is conducting research related to how staff perceptions of frontline supervisor’s knowledge affect DSP intention to stay with the organization. The members present agreed to provide a letter expressing KMFC’s interest in the research. Kathy Stiffler will contact individual agencies when she is ready to collect her data. Each agency will then determine if they want to participate in this research project. We are not committing anyone to participate. We are supporting the need for such research and expect that several of our members will become involved in this opportunity. Kathy Olson agreed to write this letter of support

National Advisory Board Meeting

Kathy Olson will attend the CDS National Advisory Board Meeting on November 1-2. Kansas needs and concerns should be shared with her before that meeting.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held in Wichita on Thursday, November, 16th from 10-3. Lunch will be provided. Kathy Walter will find us a meeting site. We will provide information about location at a later date.