External Program Review Committee (EPRC) minutes
Date of meeting: March 4, 2021
DSD liaisons: Stacie Enders, Linda Wolford and Ari Dionisopoulos
Type: Whole committee
Location: Remote only due to the COVID-19 health pandemic
Attendees: Jodi Greenstein, Liz Harri, Dan Baker, Laura Daire, Kim Frost, Stacy Danov, Melanie Eidsmoe, Mary Piggott and Susie Haben
Not present: Danielle Bishop, Tatiana Kerestesh, Lindsay Nash and Mike Boston
Public comments
There were no public comments during the meeting.
Vote
Those in favor of approving the February 2021 meeting minutes:
· Jodi Greenstein: yes· Dan Baker: yes· Kim Frost: yes· Laura Daire: yes· Liz Harri: yes· Mary Piggott: yes· Melanie Eidsmoe: yes· Stacy Danov: yesUpdates to share
The committee went through the items listed on the meeting agenda.
Discussion
· The committee reviewed the core responsibility documents for each subcommittee. They expanded one of the bullets in the creativity and judgement section to:o The method of providing technical assistance (e.g. over the phone, virtual meeting tools, in person, email), as long as it protects individual and provider privacy· What is going well? What should we change? What have we learned? o The committee is happy that the quality of life tools are now posted on MNPSP.org. Committee members will start sharing these resources, such as including them in presentations and when providing technical assistance to teams. Recommendations made by the committee in their 2020 Olmstead report
The committee reviewed recommendations from their 2020 report and discussed if there were any additional steps that could be taken by the committee or others to further achieve these goals in 2021:
1. Recommendation: The EPRC recommends continuing the past recommendation to collaborate and build connections with expanded support teams, so committee members can continue to assist with the development of effective fading plans on mechanical restraint, emergency manual restraint and other targeted interventions listed in PSTPs. 2. Recommendation: The committee continues to recommend helping service providers connect with other professionals that can inform supports and services.a. The Community Capacity and Positive Supports team will be looking into what data is available related to capacity in intervention services. It was noted that it might be easier and quicker to get started for a service provider who is already licensed to provide other types of support, versus a person who has never been a service provider before. We will ask if that information is available in the data. b. The Community Capacity and Positive Supports team will be presenting at the Minnesota Social Services Association conference about Positive Support Services. 3. Recommendation: As opportunities for edits arise, it might help to review public communication related to increasing community participation/integration, to better communicate that community activities and interactions with other people should not be forced on a person, and to better communicate that community integration efforts should meet the preferences of the person. a. Draft language for the Community Capacity and Positive Supports webpage was updated to reflect that community integration should only be done to the extent desired by the person. 4. Recommendation: The EPRC recommends continuing to focus their technical assistance on each person’s wellness and quality of life. Improved quality of life has been shown to reduce the occurrence of interfering behaviors.a. The Community Capacity and Positive Supports team did their first presentation on the new Positive Support Transition Plan and talked about the new emphasis on quality of life within the form. 5. Recommendation: When it is safe to do so, given the Covid-19 risk, EPRC members will increase their in-person technical assistance to service providers who are using mechanical restraint. 6. Recommendation: The EPRC recommends continuing to offer service providers, beyond the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ability to connect with committee members and other support providers or team members electronically, using secure communication tools. These tools have a variety of benefits including access to expertise for people who live in remote areas, quicker response times, and flexibility for team members (such as family members) who might not have easy access to transportation (note: this is not a comprehensive list of all the potential benefits). a. Members might be interested in reading the December 2020 DHS Telemedicine Utilization Report.
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