Provincial funding cuts for programs available to Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) will leave vulnerable Albertans without access to community supports.
Provincial funding cuts for programs available to Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) will leave vulnerable Albertans without access to community supports.
Announced in the Alberta budget 2013, roughly $42 million will be cut from community access programs that service vulnerable Albertans. Cuts to the provincial PDD budget are slated for July 1.
“I can’t even comprehend at this point, what we’re suppose to do,” said Marie Renaud, executive director of the Love-Service-Care (Lo-Se-Ca) Foundation in St. Albert.
“Meeting specific needs like personal care during the day, assistance eating…transporting them, it will affect our ability to do all kinds of programming.”
Community access programming includes day support services for employment preparation, coaching and placement, as well as teaching life skills through cooking, fitness and leisure programs, volunteering and transportation for medical appointments.
According to the Alberta Council of Disability Services (ACDS), the funding cuts “will have a profound negative impact on the health, safety, and well-being of the individuals and families who currently rely on these services.”
The Alberta Council represents 125 organizations across the province including facility-based programs, residential and respite care. Lo-Se-Ca and Transitions in St. Albert both provide community access programs for residents with developmental disabilities.
“If you take $42 million out of the budget, that translates to people’s hours. It’s that simple,” said Peter Stoye, ACDS communications representative for the Edmonton region.
Although funds will be cut from community access, the provincial PDD budget indicates $45 million be allocated towards agency staff to top up wages and benefits. This move, both Renault and Stoye state, will not be sustainable with the 40 per cent reduction to staff programs.
“Anytime they’re talking about a change in dollars, it translates directly to staff. All of the funding that we get, other than the percentage used for running the organization and supervising staff, all of it goes directly to service,” said Renaud.
“At the end of the day, people end up losing jobs and clients that need support are getting less,” added Stoye.
The Edmonton region PDD budget outlined around $13 million would be allocated for local agency wages and $26 million for agency administration. $12 million is slated for direct operations of provincially operated group homes such as the Erin Cormack Centre in Edmonton and Michener Centre in Red Deer.
The provincial PDD program will move towards a “support need level” delivery model where funding will be aligned with the individual’s assessed needs. Needs are assessed using a supports intensity scale.
Seven needs levels ranging from low support needs to extraordinary behavioural support have been identified. New policy indicates PDD will be reducing funding in the lower support need levels by approximately 20 per cent.
What’s concerning both agency directors and the ACDS is the lack of planning if the cuts are planned for implementation in July.
“Typically when you make a change like this it costs you a little bit more up front, and then you don’t start realizing your benefit until later in that year,” explained Stoye.
“There is no money allocated for start up. Government will say to you, we’ll find money somewhere…our experience in the past is that’s easier said than done.”
