Rep. Kenneth Gordon Visits NuPath

WOBURN:  NuPath, Inc. was honored to welcome Representative Kenneth Gordon (D) to its Woburn headquarters located at 147 New Boston Street, on May 23^rd.

Representative Gordon talked with some of the NuPath staff and listened to them tell their stories of struggle, a tale human service workers know all too well. 

Dan Harrison, Vice President of Operations, told Rep. Gordon “We have over the years reached out to our elected officials and to make them more aware of the needs of those with developmental disabilities and autism, a very vulnerable population.  It’s not just the needs of the individuals we serve, but also the needs of our staff, they are the ones that are providing this essential service, they are part of communities and neighborhoods, purchase services, contribute and vote.”

Rep Gordon said, “That is important because I do not want to take a vote on the floor and vote one way or the other if I am not aware of what is at stake.”

Rose-Marie Jean Julien, a NuPath direct care giver said, “I am a single mother living in Burlington with two teenage boys.  It is difficult to make ends meet.  The reason I don’t do two jobs is because I had to make a choice to either raise my sons or work a second job.  I chose that I wanted to be there for them in the afternoon when they come home from school, I did not want to send them to other people’s houses, so I do have the one job, but it is so difficult.  You go to the supermarket and cannot buy what you need.  While I did choose to not work two jobs, I did finally decide to take classes and am studying to become a nurse, and I do receive financial aid or else I could not do that.  I chose nursing because I love the individuals I serve. I really do.  I’ve been in this field for 14 years and at NuPath for three.”

Mr. Harrison said, “We give everything we absolutely can to our staff, our overhead costs are under 9% of our budget, our margin is thin.  Knowing we have the support of different State Reps to support things like the Salary Reserve is so necessary.  The Salary Reserve is such a small thing, it was less than $20 per week this past year, a tiny amount, yet even this amount is being threatened.  Chapter 257 is the law that would give us a higher level of funding for our programs, now that has been delayed because they say the revenue is not there.  We felt Chapter 257 was a huge victory for us, but even that has not been realized.”

Sheri McCann said, “We are left with these salaries that don’t allow people to have a reasonable life.”

Ms. Jean Julien then said, “The Salary Reserve wasn’t too much of a difference because prior to that we had an increase in taxes, so we got the Salary Reserve and then they increased our taxes, so it made no difference.”

Another NuPath direct care staff person, Kari Newman told her story.  “I live in Bedford.  I’ve lived in multiple states and Massachusetts is the most expensive state, by far.  I am a parent of a severely disabled child (he is 10 years old).   I chose to work in this field with individuals with disabilities as this is where my passion is.  I know how hard it is to find quality people that have caring hearts.”  Ms. Newman became emotional as she described the people that work at NuPath, “I interned at NuPath when I was in college.   I love NuPath because of the people that work here, because they do have really deep passion.   I can see it and that’s why I chose to come back, I’ve been here for 13 years.  I get paid $12 per hour, but like Rose-Marie said when we got the Salary Reserve increase we also got the increase in Social Security taxes, so it balanced out.”

Continuing on, she said, “I work with individuals that have to be fed, most have to be taken to the bathroom, the individuals I work with have Down’s syndrome, they have Alzheimer’s, it’s not an easy job, but the rewards at the end of the day are so fulfilling, I know I made a difference and I would not want to do anything else.    I don’t mind changing diapers on someone who is 82 years old, because I know one day that it could be my mother or be me, and I hope and pray that if that time comes that there is somebody out there to love and care for her (or me).  I hope and pray that the salary is better so that somebody will be there for the long term for 13 years and not 13 days.  I know that State PCA’s get paid more than we get paid starting out.  I believe that anybody who works with disabled individuals should get paid a decent wage however I cannot put a dollar amount on that because I don’t want to put a price tag on taking care of somebody’s life.”

Representative Gordon sat listening and then said, “Thank you for that.  What you folks are getting for taking care of people with disabilities is about what I pay to have someone look after my son when my wife and I want to go out, and he is not disabled.  It’s completely unfair.  When we do our budget that says a lot about our society, our government.  The people that vote for us put in people that they think reflect their values, so if that’s the value we place on people who do what you do, then something’s wrong.  You’ve made the case for yourselves very well, and I appreciate what you’ve had to say.  Picture what we would have if you, and others like you, did not do what you do, where would we be then?  We want to encourage people to do what you do, not discourage them and that’s a choice we have to make.”

Ms. McCann then began to tell Rep. Gordon about THE CARING FORCE.  “There are 185,000 human service workers in the Commonwealth, one in ten people are touched by Human Services, needing it to take care of a child, a parent, people with a disabled child, people who have a child with drug abuse, One in Ten!!  If you think about it, Human Service workers pay taxes, we buy food, we buy clothing, we vote, we are active in our community.  We are the backbone of this Commonwealth.  We need to exert pressure on our legislature to understand what this means and what we contribute.  If we went away there’d be a major problem throughout the Commonwealth.”

Ms. McCann further explained about The Caring Force (www.thecaringforce.org) which is a collaborative of all the Human Service trades and provider groups in the State.  “The goal of the Caring Force is to bring together all the people who care about Human Services, care about the people we serve and our staff, to influence policy in the Commonwealth.  Members get regular emails about the Caring Force. They get regular opportunities to interact with their Representatives and Senators. They know what’s going on all of a sudden because we have the communication potential to give them the information that they need in order to take action.  We’re hoping all our State Representatives and Senators will join with us to care about Human Services and to act on their caring. We’d like to ask you to join with us.” (We welcome all to join, so go to www.caringforce.org/page/s/NuPath to sign up today!)

Representative Gordon definitely wanted to join!   “It’s when we invest in our community and make those investments in people that our whole society gets better.”

Representative Gordon then toured the facility which boasts a Mail & Distribution Center, Art/Painting Studio, Hospitality, Housekeeping, Property Management, Landscaping, Sewing/Textiles, Health and Wellness, Career Development, Café/Catering and Whole Life Planning Studios and Journey Productions.  The state of the art space provides unparalleled services to individuals served.

Finally he concluded his visit in the Mercantile, NuPath’s country store (open Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM). He walked around and checked out the wide selection of beautiful gift items for sale made by the individuals served at NuPath, and even did some shopping!! 

NuPath Inc. has been a leader in the human services arena for 45 years, providing a network of creative day services and residential options for people living with developmental disabilities, autism spectrum disorders and acquired brain injury.  For more information on NuPath’s programs and services, please go to www.nupathinc.org.