I was thrilled to read the recent article in BINJE celebrating Direct Support Professional Week. I doubt many readers even knew it was happening. I hope many are now learning why they should care.
Direct Support Professionals play critical, front-line roles in providing direct support and care to people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities across our state and nation.
As the brother and legal guardian of my sister Barbara, the compassionate care, nurturing and love offered by DSPs to her over the 20 years living in a New Jersey-based group home is what helped her far surpass her anticipated life expectancy.
Barbara was born at a time when there were not many options for families with children with developmental disabilities. My parents cared for her at home for most of her life, doing the best they could. When my dad passed away and my mom was aging, it became increasingly difficult for her to care for Barbara – so I knew I had to explore options.
To help us, and Barbara, warm up to the possibility of someday living full time in a group home, I researched and discovered a nonprofit organization located near our family home that offered day programs. We enrolled Barbara into one of them.
Shortly after that we made the decision to move Barbara into a group home run by the same organization. While it wasn’t easy at first, over time, Barbara became more comfortable in the group home setting and came out of her shell for the first time in her life.
Looking back, making that decision was one we never regretted.
Day by day, week by week, Barbara became more and more accustomed to her new home environment and that’s when we really saw positive changes taking effect.
The group home setting plus her new, daily participation in adult training center activities made Barbara more communicative. Because of this, she developed friendships for the
first time in her life with her roommates, and with the DSPs who attended to her. They became like family to Barbara and to the rest of us.
All of these factors helped us become comfortable with this arrangement, especially my mother who had a hard time letting go of caring for Barbara in the early days.
Ultimately Barbara died, after living as full a life as possible at age 79 – long after her predicted life span of 65.
Today, thousands of individuals in New Jersey receive residential and support services from hundreds of agencies and depend on DSPs to care for them. These services include residential services, community-based programs, Adult Training Centers and employment support. During the day, people like my sister Barbara enjoy all kinds of activities including photography, baking, shopping and other recreational programs.
My sister’s life was incredibly enriched by living in and receiving loving, compassionate care and services from a New Jersey-based group home. She was blessed to have a phenomenal support system, and the professional care she received from her DSPs was nothing short of extraordinary.
All DSPs around the state and nation should be recognized and celebrated throughout the year – not just one week. It is not easy work. They just make it look easy. Their care is genuine and always comes from the heart.
On behalf of my family and sister Barbara, I thank all of New Jersey’s DSPs for the work they do every day, every night, around the clock. We could not have asked for anything more from them. If you have a loved one being cared for by a DSP, remember to thank them during their recognition week – but don’t wait until then, they deserve thanks every day.
Direct Support Professional Recognition Week was recognized on Sept. 7-13.
