Letter John Stinson PDD Data Dec2019

Mr. John Stinson, ADM, Disabilities, Inclusion and Accessibility Division and Mr. Jason Chance, ADM Delivery Service Portfolio, Ministry of Community and Social Services 8th flr. Petwin Tower Building 10707 - 100 Avenue Edmonton, AB T5J 3M1 RE: Response to December 11, 2019 Presentation January 10, 2020 Dear John and Jason, Thank you for meeting with the Calgary Service Provider Council members. We welcome opportunities to better understand the PDD Program trends and statistics.

We could readily see the system pressures, as Service Providers have experienced for several years, to provide appropriate supports for a growing number of people. The significant increase in complex and ultra-complex needs, along with the current waiting list, are also clear challenges.

We appreciate the GOA is faced with a commitment to cost reductions, and, at the same time, a commitment to people with disabilities and front-line services.

You provided us with four questions focused on how to create capacity in the program, whether some support models over others can stretch capacity, how to address complex needs, and opportunities for program efficiencies.

As we considered the statistics and your questions, we focused on a question of our own: What can we in the community do right now to help solve these pressing challenges?

We offer a commitment to step up to the challenge of finding capacity to respond in the first half of the fiscal year to up to half of the current 2,148 individuals on the waiting list.

We ask the Ministry to maintain our network of services heading into the 2020/21 fiscal year so that we can work with you to address the immediate pressure, in conjunction with broader systems change initiatives. To achieve this, we will commit leadership resources to work directly with government.

We believe that a number of our leadership from around the province could obtain their Boards’ approval to dedicate 20 to 30% of their time for the upcoming fiscal year for systems change initiatives, working directly with government.

We offer our commitment of dedicated, leadership resources to demonstrate that we understand the seriousness of the pressures on disability services.

Our value to the GOA, and most especially to the individuals and families we support, is three-fold:

1. To collaborate with the GOA, with families, and with our peers and other services, so that the disability program is as robust, responsive and sustainable as possible, 2. To provide context for the statistics presented to us, based on our cumulative and direct experience in the community with a broad range of individuals, with and without family support, and our focus on providing excellent supports and services, and 3. To advocate for the values of respect and choice that support an individual to be a citizen of our province and an active member of their community.

Context is key While statistics don’t lie, they also don’t provide context that often leads to a very different conclusion.

Our community experience can shed light on increasing costs, for direct services and related to individual needs. Total program statistics don’t illuminate quality or external influences that might significantly alter the understanding. We don’t suggest ignoring the statistics, nor do we under-rate their importance.

We need to understand how those statistics came to be, why and with what outcome, in order to make the best decisions for the future use of limited resources.

Collaborating will expedite the work We appreciated gaining insights into the disability program from the statistics, but it is also true that statistics on paper offer little insight into why the program is important or how it impacts people’s lives.

We feel it would be dangerous to make decisions based on those statistics alone. It would be equally ineffective to make decisions based on anecdotal experience without understanding the program statistics and budget realities.

We recognize that the authority for providing disability services in our province rests with the GOA. The responsibility, though, is shared.

We would like to see the emphasis move from the authority to the responsibility, ensuring that we work fully together to improve the disability program.

We know the program can be better and it can and must serve more people. People’s needs change, demographics shift, and families evolve. With those changes, the program, resource allocation, and our services have to adapt to ensure we are meeting needs.

We could reach a new level of effectiveness if our GOA/Service Provider partnership was able to work fully together to improve policy, processes, and all areas of service quality. There will always be more to do and combining our energies towards that end would be effective – and fulfilling for all of us.

We recognize this Ministry’s efforts to increase consultation with the community and we humbly ask for more. There is a distance to go to get to a truly collaborative decision-making process. Our offer today is a commitment to invest in this collaborative decision-making.

Values matter Values are the foundation of a culture and quality of life. As we collaborate with you on decisions – even the difficult decisions – we can be counted on to ensure that values are integral to the conversation.

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We all know that disability services are a complex system with a long history. It’s taken 30 years to build the current system of community supports and there is much work to do so that it can support the community for the next 30 years.

There is no one decision or change that will significantly reduce the resources needed or ensure full satisfaction. Instead, our best option is to dedicate resources, to work together, to take appropriate steps over a number of years, in order to realize considered, careful, values-based improvements.

Our dedicated leadership resources would be one part of simultaneous work in partnership with the GOA. In addition to our leadership commitment and the new PDD Service Provider Partnership Committee, we encourage working tables within Regions. A PDD-Community working group for intake and appeals could result in more creative and collaborative ways to respond to needs. A second opportunity rests with Service Providers’ working relationships with other Ministries and peer agencies to offer a fuller understanding of an individual’s broader community outside of PDD. A third opportunity could be province-wide, semi-annual meetings to program plan and learn from the patterns, statistics, and other jurisdictions, to anticipate changes in needs.

These are all areas where joint effort will pay dividends in efficiencies as well as quality of service.

This sleeves-rolled-up collaboration – a reset of roles and responsibilities -- could open new possibilities, lead to innovation, and ensure we are all working to the same ends every step of the way.

We believe individuals and families will be better served if program changes take place thoughtfully through a more cohesive process. We commit our time to work with you to identify, test, implement, refine – to continuously improve -- the program of services for Albertans with disabilities.

Thank you for sharing data with our Calgary Council. You’ve sparked conversation that has led us to table a significant commitment. We believe this could lead to meaningful improvements and strengthen the disability services program. Thank you for opening the door to new ideas and approaches.

On behalf of the Calgary Council of Service Providers,

Erin Waite, Chair Agency Director, Connections erinw@connectionscounselling.ab.ca Cel. 403 804-6100 cc.

Philip Ney, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the Minister, Community and Social Services Andrea Hesse, CEO, ACDS Chairs of the Regions’ Service Provider Councils

Calgary Service Providers: Accessible Housing Society, Bow Valley College, Calgary Alternative Support Services, Calgary Community Day Services, Calgary Progressive Lifestyles Foundation, Calgary Scope Society, Calgary Society of Community Opportunities, Calgary Society for Persons with Disabilities, Connect Up with Downs, CBI Home Health, Chrysalis, Columbia College, Community Living Alternative Services, Connections Counselling and Consulting Foundation, Developmental Disabilities Resource Centre, Excel Society, Foothills Advocacy in Motion Society, Indefinite Arts Society, Independent Counselling Enterprises, Janus Academy, L'Arche Calgary, New Age Services, OPTIONS, Progressive Alternatives Society of Calgary, Prospect Human Services Society, Rehoboth Christian Ministries, Resicare Society of Calgary, Resourceful Futures Residential Support, Springboard Centre, Supported Lifestyles, URSA, Vantage Enterprises, Vecova, Ventures Society of Calgary, Wheat Country Special Needs Society.

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