{"report_id":223,"form_id":"23","user_id":81,"organization_id":10,"question_id":"100","question_type":"Free_Text","text_answer":"The provider cancelling a planned trip for a person they served had a number of influences. On the morning the person was going to go on the trip, the provider was short staffed. Originally, the overnight staff was going to work a double shift by staying on for the morning shift. This staff ended up unable to work the morning shift, leaving the home with 2 staff instead of the typical 3. The provider agency was short staffed in general and did not fill the 3rd staff position for this day. The home served 4 people, 2 of which frequently exhibited challenging behavior. This level of need impacted the assignation of 3 staff to the day shifts. Also, the person\u2019s CSSP addendum approved by the county required that the person be staffed at least 1:1 for trips, so due to short staffing it was not possible to send another staff on the trip. A factor into why 1:1 was necessary for trips was that the person had a history of abuse and because of this the guardian usually did not allow the person to meet people they met online without the 1:1 supervision required by the CSSP. Playing into the staffing requirements of the home too was the negotiation process between the county and the provider facilitated by DHS Form 6790 which determines staffing levels. This negotiation is impacted by each person in the home\u2019s MnCHOICES assessment of need completed by the lead agency, as well as the Disability Waiver Rate Setting System which calculates service rates based on staffing needs. The Minnesota Legislature created both MnCHOICES and DWRS requirements. \r\nThis specific staff who couldn\u2019t work the morning shift was the staff the person wanted to take him on the trip and he did not want to go with the other available staff. The person did not want the friend he was going to see to know he lived at the group home, and reportedly felt more comfortable going with the staff who was unable to work the morning shift. \r\nAnother influence to cancelling the trip was that the house manager felt burned out. The influences to the manager feeling burned out included the fact that the provider was \u2013 as noted above - short staffed as an agency, the scheduler position who typically takes care of trips was also vacant, a number of staff were taking vacations at this time and the manager was filling a number of shifts themselves. Low unemployment rates in Minnesota and the region contributed to the provider\u2019s short staff issue. Also, this specific trip required a staff to work more than 8 hours due to the distance of trip: driving from Duluth to the Twin Cities required 5-6 hours of drive time alone. This is why the overnight staff who was going to work the double was going to take the person. There was not any staff who could work an extra shift to take this person on the trip, let alone a staff the person wanted to go with. Typical policy was that the provider required 2 weeks notice before long trips to accommodate obtaining a guardian\u2019s permission, case manager agreement and putting together the staffing needs, which made accommodating unexpected staff shortages difficult.  \r\nThe last of the influences identified was that this trip wasn\u2019t a top priority for the staff. The person wanted to see a friend they met online in the metro area, but this person had a history of misusing social media. Specifically, when using social media, the person had a history of pretending to be someone else (known as catfishing) and, as mentioned above, had a history of being abused by people they met online. Partly due to this history, the staff wasn\u2019t sure that the person their client wanted to visit was fully aware of who he was. Due to the vulnerability of the person and their history, the spontaneous trip didn\u2019t meet the needs of the person.","created_by":81,"updated_by":81,"updated_at":"5\/25\/2021 10:51:17 am","created_at":"5\/25\/2021 10:51:17 am","id":16419}