You may have taken a moment of silence at 8:46 am last week on September 11. 9/11 resulted in grief and trauma. New York City and others affected across our country came together to make sense of 9/11 and work through the tragedy. People offered each other support and slowly began to rebuild lives, families and communities.
The article below was prepared just days before COVID-19 deeply changed the way we all are doing our work and living our lives. But one of the many things revealed by the pandemic is that our human service system’s workforce is in even deeper crisis than we thought and—despite many stories of strength and commitment—quite fragile, too. But another lesson underscored by the pandemic is that relationships and friendships may be the best vaccine against the isolation and loneliness. So always—and especially now—our workforce needs to devote attention, time and creativity to helping the people they support connect deeply with others in their communities.
By the time you read this update, over 22,000 emails or calls will have been made to Governor Baker, Speaker DeLeo, and Senate President Spilka about our safety net of supports for persons including DDS and MassHealth funded services. Our state’s leaders, legislators, and administration officials are facing scores of challenges and our combined voice can help them in the decision-making process.
Across the state, families and agencies are showing their appreciation to our essential staff working at homes and apartments across the Commonwealth. We thank all of staff for being committed to our community. Here are recent demonstrations of our appreciation from across the state. Do you have something you want to share with us in thanks?
It is important to once again give a BIG THANK YOU to Governor Baker’s administration on the release of rate regulations which took place on Friday, February 21. But I felt that the blog I sent out on February 28 could lead to misunderstandings for our readers due to its initial sentences regarding the pay rates of staff.
