September 1, 2021
CP State News
We're here for you! 
Workforce crisis in the news
Utica O-D: Is low paycausing a shortage of workers to assist developmentally disabled?
Advocates for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, including agencies, individuals, family members and state politicians, staged a regional virtual rally on Thursday, August 26, one of several being held across the state. The rally was held to draw attention to the issue and the threat it presents to the programs that provide care, jobs, recreation and outside socialization to thousands of individuals with disabilities.  
Advocates for people with developmental disabilities say a pay crisis threatens staff levels and care for clients
More than 140,000 New Yorkers are being left without sufficient care, according to advocates for people with developmental disabilities. Care giving organizations report 25 percent of their positions are left vacant, due to a mounting funding crisis. And care workers haven’t seen a raise in 10 years, leading to staffing shortages. 
Materials for IRMA entry of COVID-19 data available
Materials are now available from the Additional IRMA Entry of Positive COVID-19 Data for Certified Residential Sites training..
Please note the correction on the PowerPoint that the deployment of these new IRMA fields will now be effective September 3, 2021.
OPWDD issues revised ADM on support brokers
OPWDD has issued a revised ADM regarding authorization standards for support brokers. This new revised ADM replaces 19-ADM-05. The revised ADM may be found by clicking on the following link: https://opwdd.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2021/08/support-broker-adm-8.27.21.pdf
Registration deadline is Monday, September 6!
HR Conference - September 14-15
Don’t forget to register for the CP of NYS 4th Annual Human Resources Professionals Conference for the Disability Provider Community on September 14-15, 2021. 
This two-day conference will feature HR subject matter experts who will discuss trending topics ranging from cultural diversity to recruiting in the current employment market. Rich Landau, a principal with Jackson Lewis, will join us once again as the Opening Session Speaker. A dynamic presenter, Rich has a wealth of practical knowledge about current labor and employment law practice. These information-packed sessions will also provide informal time to catch up with peers. 
Final Registration deadline is September 6.
Reserve your hotel room today! To reserve an overnight room at our special rate, CLICK HERE.  
There are a limited number of rooms available for this event – early registration is encouraged. 
Questions? Contact Tim Ferguson (tferguson@cpstate.org) or Deb Williams (dwilliams@cpstate.org).
More information to come. . . we look forward to seeing you this fall!
Save the Date: Clinical Conference is Friday, Nov. 12
Join us for the 3rd Annual Conference on Multi-Disciplinary Clinical Care for Patients with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities on Friday, November 12, at The Embassy Suites, 86 Congress Street, Saratoga Springs.
Topics to include:
  • Interdisciplinary Oral Healthcare
  • Dysphagia and Common GI Issues
  • Mental Health: Co-Occurring Conditions
  • Palliative Care and End-of-Life
  • Skin Integrity
This program has been designed to meet the interest of physicians, dentists, clinicians, therapists, nurses and administrators who provide services to people with intellectual/developmental disabilities or are interested in doing so.
Click here to register for the conference. (Discounts available for students and nurses.)
Check cpstate.org for program details.
Help individuals with impaired speech use voice-activated tech
Project Euphonia is a Google Research project started two years ago with the goal of helping people with speech impairments communicate faster and gain independence. A few months ago, they reached a milestone of 1,000 hours of recordings from 1,000 participants! Their next goal? Collect speech samples from an additional 5,000 participants! For the type of research Project Euphonia is doing, having data from a large number of speakers representing a broad spectrum of speech characteristics helps the most. Learn how you can help - and maybe make some money recording speech samples for Project Euphonia - by visiting bit.ly/CPStatePE.
DSPs and other staff can get paid for their time too!
See how it works: Click the thumbnail to hear Mike from Ability Beyond talk about his experience with Project Euphonia.
Don't forget, we're back in-person for this year's conferences!
CP of NYS | cpstate.org