Dedicated Determination: Southwest Developmental Services, Inc. Serves Kansas Residents for 35 Years

Everyone has the right to make choices about where to live, who to live with, where to work and how to spend leisure time. People with developmental disabilities are no exception.

That is the guiding philosophy of Southwest Developmental Services Inc., a private, not-for-profit corporation. Mark Hinde, president and chief executive officer, spends most of his time in SDSI’s main office in Garden City but keeps the road hot between there and the Great Bend location, 3111 10th, Suite 102, in the office complex behind the Highland Convention Center.

"The key word in what we do is ‘choice,’” Hinde said. “Just like you and I have the ability to make choices about our lives, people with developmental disabilities are also entitled to these basic, individual rights.

Bev in Business: Bev Cross serves as SDSI’s Office Manager for the Great Bend branch. When clients visit SDSI inside the Highland Hotel & Convention Center in Suite 102, she’s the first and the last person they speak with. “Bev is great at her job,” President Mark Hinde says. “She’s always friendly, and is a great face for our organization.”

“If I cannot afford to live on my own, I can decide who my roommate will be,” he continued. “These are the kinds of decisions we all take for granted. People with developmental disabilities are very capable of making these decisions the same way most of us do – with the support of family and friends.

“Family and friends help us get through life. We always hope people have a support network to depend on. We all rely on other people,” he added.

This network is also important if the individual and family end up questioning their own decisions about where they want to live and work.

Familiar Faces: Servicing five counties in Central Kansas, the Great Bend branch of SDSI staffs three individuals. Pictured from left to right are Admissions Manager Karen Garcia, Office Manager Bev Cross, and Quality Assurance Manager Brad Brack. “When a client is seeking services, they go to Karen,” President Mark Hinde says. “She looks over their documentation and then refers them to the appropriate agencies that we serve. Then it’s Brad’s job to ensure that the agencies we serve are offering the highest quality of services to our clients.”

People in the general public sometimes ask: ‘what if there is a wrong decision?’” Hinde said. “I say ‘have you ever made a wrong decision?’ If it is not a health or safety issue, people with developmental disabilities have the right to decide what they want to do. If they find out later it was the wrong decision, they fix it like everyone else does.”

SDSI is a Community Developmental Disability Organization (CDDO) that opened its Great Bend office on July 1, 2004. It presented a proposal to the Barton County Commission and was named the CDDO. It covers 18 counties in central and southwest Kansas, with a total of 38 community-service providers.

The central Kansas counties are Barton, Pawnee, Rice, Rush and Stafford.

A CDDO is the gateway for an individual or family to obtain services from local affiliates that offer developmental disability services and programs. The state-licensed affiliates in Great Bend are Pathways-ResCare, Rosewood Services Inc., Sunflower Diversified Services Inc., Duke Lorson Independent Case Management LLC and Sharon’s Independent Case Management LLC. (The last two on this list provide only case management services, while the others offer a variety of programs in addition to case management.)

Regional Cooperation: Pictured are most of SDSI’s employees, three of which work in the Great Bend office. From left to right are Chief Financial Officer Earl McGinn, Quality Assurance Manager Brad Brack, President and CEO Mark Hinde, Great Bend Office Manager Bev Cross, Admissions Manager Charlene Myran, Great Bend Admissions Manager Karen Garcia, and Quality Assurance Managers Tim Hazelet and Steve Sandoval. Business Manager/HUD Clerk Debbie Specht and BASIS Manager Mary Schuster are not pictured. SDSI is the exclusive community developmental disability organization (CDDO) for 18 counties in Central and Southwest Kansas, five of those counties being serviced by the Great Bend office.

“You could have one of these providers for case management, another for day services and another for residential services,” Hinde noted. “Or you could get the services all in one place. It all depends on what people are eligible for, what they want and the amount of funding available.”

A CDDO gets funding from state grants, state aid and county mill levies. “These three sources flow through SDSI, while Medicaid goes directly to the provider of services,” Hinde explained. “We are the place you go to seek information about eligibility if you have a loved one who has developmental disabilities.

“We are the single point of entry, or gateway,” the president/CEO continued. “We first determine eligibility and then refer people to the list of the five local affiliates. We cannot recommend; we have to remain neutral.

“We offer the list of contacts and encourage people to interview with these agencies. Then they can make an informed decision, usually with family members. It is important for them to make the decision and feel comfortable with that decision.”

Hinde emphasized that county mill levies and state aid go into one pot, called the local finance plan. About 8 to 10 percent is used for administration, while the remainder goes to providers in two categories – transportation and capacity building.

“This is based on day and residential services,” Hinde said. “The money follows the person receiving the services.”

Meeting Needs: Southwest Developmental Services, Inc. (SDSI) is currently housed inside the Highland Hotel & Convention Center in Suite 102. This office space comes with a large conference and meeting room, perfect for the types of meetings the staff of SDSI and its clients hold on a regular basis. “We hold meetings here constantly,” Great Bend’s Quality Assurance Manger Brad Brack says. “In addition, our clients and servicing agencies can utilize our meeting spaces on request, which helps us meet those agencies’ needs to an even greater extent.”

As part of its contract with the state, SDSI is responsible for quality assurance reviews. Thirty percent of all individuals receiving developmental disability services are randomly reviewed each year to ensure they are receiving the support they need.

Prior to the Developmental Disability Reform Act of 1996, there were 32 licensed providers in Kansas; now there are 280.

“DD Reform opened all this up to competition. Non-profits, private businesses and individuals are involved,” Hinde said, noting each type of provider is represented in Great Bend. “People can go to one or all or something in between.”

Currently, close to 4,000 people are on a waiting list for services in Kansas; there is no waiting list for case management, however. In SDSI’s 18 counties, 59 individuals are waiting for state funds and 204 are waiting for Home & Community Based Services waiver funds from Medicaid.

“We are visiting with legislators about the needs of people on this waiting list,” Hinde said. “We are making them aware. In early March, I talked with eight different legislators. They listened attentively.

“We are also looking at state grants and state aid,” he elaborated. “We think this is vital to help individuals who are receiving services and the organizations that help them.”

The SDSI board of directors currently has 15 members but could have 18 – one representative of each county in its service area. The board includes county commissioners, family members and community residents from varied walks of life.

In central Kansas, board members are Kenny Schremmer of Barton County; Donna Pelton of Pawnee County; Jerry Mattocks of Stafford County; and Catherine Sandstrom of Rush County. The Rice County position is open.

Services offered by providers include:

• Case Management
• Residential Services
• Day Services
• Personal Assistant Services
• Supported Employment
• Supportive Home Care
• Respite Care
• Sleep Cycle Support
• Wellness Monitoring
• Medical Alert Rental
• Communication Devices
• Wheelchair Modifications
• Van Lifts
• Home Modifications

SDSI and its affiliate partners’ guiding principles include:

• The needs of the person served are the shared top priority.
• Assume the best of each other.
• Respond promptly.
• Keep an ongoing discussion of issues.
• Communicate directly and openly.
• Be fair.

“Helping Kansans with developmental disabilities access quality community services.”

www.sdsicddo.com