BIDDEFORD — On a typical day, Amy Penttila might help people with their personal finances, personal hygiene, shopping or going into the community to work, volunteer or for a fun event. For most people, these are easy tasks they perform on their own, but those who depend on Penttila, who works for Biddeford-based Community Partners, Inc., welcome the help.
“It’s a hard job, but it’s also a lot of fun,” she said. “I love this job. What I do makes a difference every day.”
Penttila is a direct support professional employed by Community Partners. The non-profit agency provides community-based support to approximately 200 adults with developmental and other disabilities, said Amy Safford, manager of Development and Community Relations.
The organization works collaboratively with their clients or “consumers,” (the term used in the field) in residential and independent living settings and at its 12-bed health care facility to provide employment, vocational and volunteer options and personal and social support. Community Partners has 35 homes in southern and central Maine.
It’s one of more than 70 private organizations in Maine that provide housing, support and services for the approximately 5,000 adults with developmental disabilities who are supported through state and federal funding.
The work that direct support professionals do with the agency’s consumers is invaluable, said Safford ”“ and she isn’t the only one who realizes it. In June, for the third consecutive year, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution designating this week as “National Direct Support Professionals Recognition Week.”
U.S. Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, was a co-sponsor of the resolution.
“The compassionate care provided by direct support professionals helps keep families together and enables people with disabilities to live meaningful, productive lives,” said Collins, in a statement. “Moreover, the services provided by direct support professionals help these individuals avoid more costly institutional care. I am pleased to co-sponsor the Senate Resolution honoring these hard-working individuals who give so much of themselves to help others.”
Governor John Baldacci also signed a resolution in August to recognize this week that honors those working closely with individuals with developmental disabilities.
The purpose of the recognition, “is to celebrate the hard work these men and women do everyday,” said Mary Lou Dyer, a spokeswoman with the Maine Association for Community Service Providers. Without them, many of the people they work with would be in institutions, said Dyer, whose group is an association of organizations similar to Community Partners.
The other purpose of the week of recognition, she said, is to call attention to the high turnover rate in the field and the low wages paid to direct support professionals. The average entry level pay for these workers in Maine is $9.38 and the average wage for all workers in the field is $10.40, said Dyer.
Because of state budget problems, the money to provide services for adults with developmental disabilities has decreased over several years, she said, so wages for their caregivers have stagnated.
For more than six years, bills have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to increase wages for direct support professionals, said Dyer. A current bill is not expected to pass, she said, but a similar bill will be introduced again in the next congressional session.
Despite the low pay, it’s the personal reward, not the paycheck, that the direct support professionals value.
“It’s almost a calling,” said Dyer.
“It’s a 24/7 job, it’s nights, it’s weekend,” said Jane Mead, a program manager with Community Partners. “You have to be passionate and committed.”
“You have to be really dedicated to (do) what I do,” said Penttila.
— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
