Direct Support Professional (DSP) Recognition Week is September 11–17, 2022, and that means Frazer Center is celebrating these essential workers who provide vital support to the adults with developmental disabilities who rely on Frazer’s Adult Services.
If you would like to help Frazer Center honor these essential workers, you can MAKE A GIFT specifically designated for DSP Recognition Week. Thank you!
The Direct Support Professionals at Frazer bring care and commitment to their work. Even during the uncertainty of the pandemic, they showed up every day to provide the steadfast support and engagement that help Frazer’s adult participants flourish.
Being a Direct Support Professional can be a rewarding career. Ask any of our DSPs, and they will tell you they love their job because of the relationships they build with the adult participants. They enjoy helping each participant to live a self-directed life, and they find fulfillment from seeing participants reach their goals. DSPs become adept at communicating with each individual, whether verbally or nonverbally. They are advocates for the people they work with and empower these individuals to advocate for themselves. DSPs help create community networks and opportunities for cultural, educational, and social engagement. They do all this while also providing extensive documentation required by state and federal agencies.
One of those agencies is Qlarant which recently audited Frazer to ensure the Adult Services program is meeting quality standards and Medicaid requirements while providing respectful, ethical, and meaningful support for individuals. After a week-long review of records, and meetings with staff and program participants, Qlarant reviewers awarded a score of 95 percent and raved about the quality of Frazer’s “extraordinary” Adult Services program, especially considering the operational disruptions of the pandemic. This is thanks in large part to the DSPs who are on the front lines of service, some of whom have been with Frazer for ten, twenty, or thirty-plus years.
But staff retention in the disabilities arena is an ongoing challenge nation-wide, and Frazer is not immune. To help remedy the hiring crisis that hit during the pandemic, Frazer raised its minimum starting wage to $15/hour. And now, thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Sara Giles Moore Foundation, Frazer’s Adult Services program is hiring even more staff and working to expand services to include wider community access for more participants during evening and weekend hours.
Direct Support Professionals impact and enrich the lives of people with disabilities. That’s partly because of their compassion, ingenuity, flexibility, patience, creativity, curiosity, and huge heart. They are absolutely essential to our community, and Frazer will be celebrating them during DSP Recognition Week with gifts, games, food trucks and more.
If you would like to help Frazer Center honor these essential workers, you can MAKE A GIFT specifically designated for DSP Recognition Week. Thank you!