Cuts to PDD put on hold

Times Reporter   

 

For months the Redford government spoke of looming cuts to persons with developmental disabilities (PDD). The concerns raised have been satisfied for now, though there is the speculation that the discussion may rear its ugly head again in the future.  

“I’m pleased to report that our funding is all intact, there is no reduction this year, however, (the contract specialist) couldn’t be really specific with respect to the future. It was kind of suggested that there is adjustments that are supposed to be coming, perhaps next year and even the year after that,” said Vince Kimura, executive director for the Foothills Advocacy in Motion Society (AIM).

The AIM Society provides services and support to adults with developmental disabilities. The idea behind it is to be a support system and help the clients achieve success no matter what their disability may be. For each client there will be different levels of success and opportunities available through the AIM Society.

One of the proposed changes had been a budget reduction, which would be a 44 per cent reduction to the community access program. Clients from AIM would definitely have been impacted by the budget reduction. 

The resource allocation model, however, was the biggest concern that had been brought forth. 

“That resource allocation model had implications far greater than the 44 per cent cut to Community Access actually,” said Kimura. 

The Resource Allocation model was targeting low needs individuals. There were indications that the government was faced with a situation where they were not in good position with the projected deficit. 

“What they are trying to do is to ensure that the individuals with the highest level of need continue to receive supports. So unfortunately what’s happening is there is an assessment tool that has been utilized to assess almost 90 per cent of the individuals in PDD in the province of Alberta and 40 per cent are deemed to be of low needs,” said Kimura. 

He said in the resource allocation model the government was really targeting reducing the funding to the individuals who have been assessed as low needs. This is money that is allocated to programs like those offered by the AIM Society. In the province of Alberta there are 187 service providers and approximately 10,000 adults are served who have been deemed eligible 

Over the years these individuals have been able to secure funding for things like residence, respite services, employment and/or community access.  Kimura said what the government was saying was that the overall average cost of those individuals who have accessed multiple programs and have gotten funding for each of those programs is not sustainable anymore. 

The government wanted to implement something where the level of funding, or the number of programs that people with low needs access, would be diminished or reduced. Those who are still deemed highest level of need would still have access to the programs, and likely wouldn’t be affected. 

What is considered low needs had become a source of discontent and controversy. 

“We’re shocked at the level of need that’s been deemed to be low, and so I think that’s where the greatest area of worry or controversy (came from) is that there is a significant concern that there will be people who will be collateral damage as a result of this new resource allocation model,” said Kimura. 

The model would have affected adults with disabilities who have achieved a higher level of independence.  The government was saying they want them to be more independent. 

“I understand in some essence…why they’re doing this, I think the damage that they (were planning) so much in one year. Prudent practice would have been that you maybe spread this over three years instead of trying to do this all in one year and that’s where I think the degree of pushback is coming from,” said Kimura.

“I think the problem is people fall through the cracks all the time and the problem with this model is that it makes the crack just a little bit wider. This model is so robust that if the funding gets tighter and tighter they can tweak it and the gap just gets bigger, and bigger and bigger. I think that’s a concern going forward.”

In Alberta the level of need for persons with developmental disabilities is rated in a range of one to seven, with one being the lowest level of need and seven is the highest. Individuals who score three or under are considered to be low need.

In the province there are 704 people assessed as level one in group homes at an average cost per person of $42,632 a year. If PDD clients are in support homes (and there are 789 in support homes in the province for level one) the average annual cost is $16,558, which is a significant difference. In level two there are 701 people in group homes at an annual rate of $53,984 per person. There are 328 level two people in support homes at a cost of  $25,871 per year. 

Kimura believes that the government’s goal was to bring things into alignment and get people out of group homes and into support homes wherever possible in order to cut back on funding. However, the method being chosen saw too much happening too fast, and for now at least things are on hold. 

The only option now is to wait and see what the future holds for government planning, the budget and the future for persons with developmental disabilities in Alberta. Kimura said after the Aug. 20 meeting with the contract specialist he feels optimistic that the AIM Society is close to where they need to be, and that the future plan will be to bring those out of alignment back in.