South Dakota Developmental Center in Redfield fights perpetual staff shortage
The South Dakota Developmental Center in Redfield is dealing with a staff shortage, with more than 40 open full-time positions out of about 340.
The state-funded facility supports people with intellectual and physical developmental disabilities in need of major support services. Roughly 140 clients live on-site at the center and get round-the-clock care.
Developmental center director Jan Banghart said that those admitted are in need of a higher level of support than people at other developmental disability service centers in the state. The Redfield center has a history of staffing shortages, she said.
“We currently have right around 40 direct care positions available,” Banghart said in an email, through state Department of Human Services communications officer Patrick Baker. “This seems to vary at different times of the year and continues to fluctuate over the years. Over the past decade, we have typically seen 25 to 40 open positions at any given time.”
Causes
Employees are now required to work overtime to compensate for the staff shortages, Banghart said, but receive no more vacation time than they would without a staff shortage. That is one reason a former employee quit after working at the developmental center for four years, she said.
Erica Ishmael said she worked as a counselor at the center before quitting in November. Ishmael said many former employees have had to resort to quitting just to get a break from work. Due to the facility’s policy, she said, getting rehired is a struggle.
“There’s a rule that they can’t come back until six months later,” Ishmael said in a phone interview. “So even though staff are getting physically and emotionally drained because there are no breaks, they are quitting so they can get a break, even though they might just need a week or two because they’re so drained. They can’t come back for six months, even though some really good staff want to come back.”
Ishmael added that the center is meeting the minimum requirements for staff-to-individual ratios, which is 3.2 staff members per client.
Even so, it’s tough dealing with a client who has extreme behavioral problems and assaults staff, she said. Sometimes, three workers are needed to hold down one client.
“I’ve seen people get really hurt to the point that they were permanently disabled,” Ishmael said.
Ishmael is now working in Oregon in the same field. At the time she quit the Redfield developmental center, she said she was making $16.73 per hour.
“Most SDDC employees live in Redfield or a surrounding small town such as Ashton, Tulare, Frankfort, etc.,” Banghart said.
She added that it can be difficult to get people to move to such a rural location.
According to the state Department of Labor website, the number of Spink County residents in the workforce in 2015 increased from 3,250 in January to 3,305 in November, with a 1.9 percent decrease in the unemployment rate.
More people are taking jobs in Redfield, just not at the developmental center, where employee numbers have dropped from 385.6 in 2014 to a maximum of 339.6 in December 2015.
Difficulty of job
The majority of open positions are for direct care jobs, which are the staffers who work the most hours in the dorms with clients.
Banghart said those are the most difficult positions to fill. And for good reason: The job is not easy.
Hailey Roeber worked at the facility as a direct care support professional and said that it is a job that comes with stress, no matter what.
It can even be dangerous.
“I had a couple of concussions, one from being punched in the back of the head and another from being kicked in the face, and that one I actually have nerve damage in my face, which I’m still treating,” Roeber said. “It was like a six-month period where I was working with doctors and workman’s compensation. It was the first time I had trouble returning to work in this field, and I have been in this field for nine years now.”
Roeber took two weeks’ vacation in December. During that time, she decided she had no desire to return to work at the developmental center.
At the time of her first concussion, Roeber said she was paid $11.75 per hour. After a raise, she was paid $13.62 during the time of her second concussion.
Advertising positions
Banghart said the developmental center uses a variety of different options to advertise open positions. That includes working closely with the city of Redfield to promote the town and bring families to the community in hopes of broadening the center’s workforce and offering practicums, internships and shadow opportunities through several universities.
“In addition, our human resource manager participates in career fairs. We utilize advertising through a variety of sources (social media, newspaper, radio) and several of our staff have talked to high school honor students to share the career opportunities available at SDDC,” she said.
She added that the center has a wide variety of open positions available that require varying degrees of education. The center also provides free job training to new staff members.
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• Supports about 140 people with intellectual and physical developmental disabilities with round-the-clock care on its Redfield campus.
• Needs 340 workers to be at full staff.
• Now has about 40 open full-time positions.
• Has perpetually had 25 to 40 open positions in recent years.
Source: Jan Banghart, director