FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 8, 2024

Contact: [email protected]

“This is what we need. This is how we sustain the care and the quality of life for our clients.”

AUSTIN, TX – In case you missed it, last week KVUE featured the voices of staff from the Austin-area nonprofit Mary Lee Foundation, who discussed the urgent need for the Texas Legislature to raise hourly wages for direct support professionals (DSPs) who serve Texans with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Carroll Rabalais, the Foundation’s Interim Director, told the outlet she is “painfully aware” that the current wages she is able to offer DSPs are unsustainable in ensuring continuity of care for the Texans with IDD they serve:

“It’s really difficult to ask that of someone and say, ‘You get $10.60 an hour.’ You know, Dairy Queen is going to offer you $15, or any other any other restaurant down the street is going to offer you more.

“This is what we need. This is how we sustain the care and the quality of life for our clients.”

To watch the full story, click here or on the image below:

Like many group home settings around the state, Mary Lee is short on full-time DSPs, with 14 staff vacancies unfilled and five fewer employees than it had three years ago. Parents like Judy Kegg, whose stepdaughter Rachel lives at Mary Lee, is worried about what will happen if the facility has to close its doors to Texans with IDD:

“I’ve heard stories of other places closing…we don’t have any alternatives.”

Christopher Botello, who has cerebral palsy and who has lived in a group home for 50 years, described how he has worked closely with Mary Lee Foundation residents to help his fellow Texans with IDD achieve a greater sense of independence:

“I train a lot of the residents here to ride the buses, so that way, they can go to where they want to go.”

Rabalais says despite the challenges, she is committed to doing everything she can to support the Texans with IDD she serves and the DSPs who help improve their quality of life every day:

“I’m not turning away from this, I’m not backing down. Keep going to legislators, every time you have elections, we have to reintroduce ourselves, we have to keep going.”

To read or watch the full story from KVUE-TV, please click here.

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