Meet with LegislatorsMeeting with your legislators is one of the most powerful ways to advocate for the people we support and the Direct Support Professionals who make our work possible. Below are meetings PAR members have held with legislators and what was discussed. Met with a legislator? Use the button at the bottom of this page to record your meeting. Dean Stoesz | Indian Creek Yesterday I met with State Representative Marcy Toepel and want to report a good interaction. Ms. Toepel demonstrated a fairly good understanding of our issues and also appeared to be sympathetic to our DSP wage issues. She asked good questions. There was also an interesting comment with her that is of some interest. She indicated that she had had a good interaction with “a man who was newly in his role at an organization that she could not remember the name of”. I noted that it was almost certainly Mark Davis from PAR. I then indicated my involvement with PAR and we talked about the advocacy efforts with McNees Wallace. She gave a favorable report on the interaction with you and noted that you had prompted her to “open some hearings” concerning the onerous new regulations that increase our costs that could otherwise be put into DSP wages. Apparently, the issue that you discussed was incident reports. The end takeaway was that Marcy indicated that we would almost certainly would get something in this coming budget but not the requested $120 M. She said that she would support that. I left the letter with her and she indicated that she would review it and if able to sign it, she would send it back to me so that I could get it to the right people. Terry McNelis | Merakey The visit to the Hummelstown Campus today by Senators DiSanto and Folmer went exceptionally well. Our meeting, along with the tour of the day program, was very positive and quite enjoyable for everyone. The Senators interacted with many of our individuals, as well as the staff, and expressed a genuine concern for the hard work our DSPs do every day. The Senators were very down to earth and thanked our staff several times for having them visit the Campus. Likewise, several of our staff personally thanked the Senators for taking the time to come and meet our individuals. Prior to the tour I introduced Niki Ubaldi, Residential Manager, Chris Blyler, Program Director, and Donna Stuckey, Group Home Administrator to the Senators. I gave a brief history of Merakey AVS, especially as it pertained to the Hummelstown Campus and our group homes, then answered any questions the Senators had at that time. Next we showed a short (6 minute) video about Merakey AVS which they really enjoyed. After seeing the video we toured the day program rooms, as well as the residential portion of the building. Once the tour finished up we went back to the conference room (for the next 30 minutes) and talked about the demanding work our DSPs do, and all the different responsibilities they have on any given day. We discussed how the staffing crisis and the wage issue has directly affected our ability to recruit, as well as keep, valued staff. Both Senators expressed their support of PARs effort to secure additional funding to increase DSP wages in this year’s budget. Both Senators showed a sincere interest in our work, and definitely left here today with a much better understanding of what it takes to care for our individuals. The day could not have gone better. Sister Maryalice Jacquinot | St. Joe's I can say with confidence that it had a profound impact on him. Kathy McHale | SPIN She was extremely supportive and intends to carry the message in her work on the appropriations committee. Dave Wyher | Delta My visit with Representative Liz Hanbidge went very well. Attached is my letter acknowledging the meeting and stressing some of the talking points. I found her to be very interested in our concerns, well informed about disabilities and children/youth issues. Nicole Buckley | Special Friends Mike was welcomed by a resident of our Drexel Hill Special Friends home. Chris and Carol Garavente founded our organization in 1997, and last year became Qualified Residential Providers, opening two homes. I joined the team as the Executive Director in January 2019. We are a new provider and a new member to PAR. Mike enjoyed a tour of the home, accompanied by Michelle Ricciuti, Community Inclusion Manager. ( Direct Service Professional ). He then met with Chris and myself to discuss the DSP Crisis and the State of the State. He left with a commitment to speak with Paula Faucett, our DELCO Provider Coordinator to determine how he could best aid families seeking residential placement for their loved ones. I believe he was quite surprised to hear about the thousands of people , without waiver funded services on the PA waiting list. Most importantly, we wanted Mike to share with all his constituents that Special Friends is accepting referrals. We are seeking two new men to move in and be great housemates for our current residents. Thank you and to all the PAR staff for providing a great tool kit on the relevant hot topics, and a “ how to cook book” on facilitating a successful legislative visit. Dave Wyher | Delta He promised to speak to Sen. Hughes about our funding requests prior to the budget hearings. Bill Miller | Martha Lloyd He was very sympathetic to our issues and said that he had met you two on a prior occasion. I really think he is sincere when he says he believes in predictable funding rather than only when it is your turn. He understands that the 400 million last year went to pay for lots of things other than DSP wages. He said he believes that the state is broke or close to it and some drastic changes in how the state fundamentally supports things must change. He is an impressive young man who has been to Martha Lloyd on a couple of occasions. We met today in his Troy office. He understands what we do and that we are also a pretty large employer in the area. Overall worth the effort. If you have any questions let me know. Gary Blumenthal | InVision His office is very interested in our issues, though they thought the major ID/A issue was the issue of community participation; and not necessarily DSP wages or rates. The Representative would like to be supportive of our issues and may need additional reinforcement that our priority issue is DSP wages and rates. InVision Human Services has only one family member in his district. I’m anticipating a Capitol meeting with the Rep rather than a local district meeting. Gary Blumenthal | InVision She was very engaging and supportive of our issues; moved by the 38% turnover and low wage issues and promised to take our concern to the Democratic leadership team. One key bit of advice she had for us was the need for our movement to identify a key sponsor, ally or leader in both the House and Senate on both sides of the aisle, but especially key allies in the Legislature in the majority party who can influence their respective Chamber leadership; and key allies of the Governor’s party who can get to the Governor over the summer and fall to urge him to be bold and aspirational in his budget proposals for our cause. Bill Miller | Martha Lloyd Supportive of our issues
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