By MICHELLE BESAW
PERU — A home-care service provider here will lay off up to 39 people, forcing 19 brain-injury clients to find new care.
Residential Resources Inc., which provides life-enhancing support for people with developmental and acquired disabilities, will lay off its staff of home-care providers after it was unable to acquire a Licensed Home Care Service Agency license.
Regional Director Kevin Defayette said Residential Resources Inc. sent out the application in early 2007 but received no additional information on the home-care license, a new mandate by the New York State Department of Health.
“Over the past two years, we were told it’s in the process.”
But last October, Defayette said, providers received a letter stating that if they were not actively seeking a licensure, they must transition participants by Dec. 31, 2009.
He said he called the Department of Health and asked if the letter applied to Residential Resources.
“We were told by an administrator of the TBI (traumatic brain injury) Waiver Program that our status was considered pending and therefore the transition letter did not apply to our agency.
“So we felt pretty secure with that.”
But he never heard back until a letter arrived from the state earlier this month mandating that the clients, called “consumers,” be moved to a licensed provider.
WORKERS NOTIFIED
In a Jan. 22 letter sent to the employees, Residential Resources Inc. said it “will be conducting a reduction in its workforce, as a result of the mandated transition of participants receiving Home and Community Support Services (HCSS) to other vendor agencies, as directed by the New York State Department of Health in a letter to our counsel faxed on Tuesday, January 19, 2010.”
The layoffs will take place Sunday, but some of the caregivers will get jobs with the new provider.
So far, about 25 of the 39 caregivers will begin work at North Country Home Services, based in Plattsburgh. Those employees will take their clients with them, but only after they finish the required personal-care-assistant training on Monday, Feb. 8.
“We have been made aware, and we have opened our doors to some of those workers who would like to apply here,” said Gina Pounds, the office manager at North Country Home Services in Plattsburgh.
Residential Resources Inc. has until Jan. 31 to find a place for their consumers.
“Some have family members to fill in the gap while workers are being trained,” Pounds said. “Some will be admitted to the hospital. Depending on how many folks we put through the training will determine how many consumers we accept.”
24-HOUR CARE
Defayette said they have four people who receive 24-hour service. Of those, one person will be an admission at CVPH Medical Center.
Others will receive support from family members for the time being, and Defayette says they will continue to provide some help, such as service coordination, independent living skills training and structured day programming.
But, he said, there will be a two-to-three-week period where clients will go without in-home aid and community-support services.
“Service really entails working closely to help with memory and cognitive skills (and) providing the level of support necessary to function at an optimum level.
“Not having that service for some people will have a sizeable impact.”
EMPLOYEES SHOCKED
Ulrike Willis, a caregiver for Residential Resources, said the layoff letter came “out of the blue.”
“If this really is the state, then shame on them,” she said of the layoffs. “My biggest concern is not even me; it’s the consumers.”
Ruby Patillo of Keeseville has provided home care to people with traumatic brain injuries for 10 years through Residential Resources but will go to North Country to start her 45-hour personal-care-assistant training.
“I don’t have any other choice,” she said. “I just purchased my first home.”
She said Residential Resources made promises to further educate and train them as personal-care assistants.
“They made us promises, and they just lied to us.”
But Defayette said they’ve been upfront.
“This came as a total surprise to us. We were shocked — dismayed really. This is completely contradictory to what they (the state) told us in October.
“Despite multiple attempts to appeal, the state has dug their heels in. They’re basically denying that they ever gave us the guidance that this did not apply to us.”
Defayette said 19 other agencies are facing the same problem. He and two other agency representatives will meet today with the Department of Health commissioner to request an extension to continue providing service while obtaining the license, which can take four to six months.
E-mail Michelle Besaw at:
mbesaw@pressrepublican.com
