A Purpose Greater Than Yourself: Finding Her Voice Through Direct Support

This story marks the kickoff to an occasional series as part of our campaign to #SaveMedicaid. You can learn more and take action to protect Medicaid-funded disability services by visiting the ANCOR Amplifier.

Anyone who knows Thea Fuhs would describe her as confident and outgoing—someone who stands up for those who can’t always advocate for themselves.

But that wasn’t always the case, says Thea, who has worked for Milestone Decisions in Moscow, Idaho, since 2019. “When I think about my life before I became a DSP, I see myself as an entirely different person. I was painfully shy, had no confidence, and no idea where to go next in life.”

That all started to change when Thea became a direct support professional, or DSP. In that role, she delivered frontline supports to Idahoans with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD).

Like any job, it wasn’t all roses and sunshine. Thea describes the two years she spent as a DSP as some of the most challenging and nerve-wracking of her life. Perhaps that’s inevitable when the ability of others to live their lives depends almost entirely on you showing up. But as anyone who has worked in a fulfilling career can attest, our most challenging experiences also become our most rewarding ones.

“I quickly grew to truly care for and eventually love the individuals I supported,” Thea recounts. “I became more comfortable, confident and proud of the work I was doing.”

Perhaps most importantly, Thea was quickly becoming proud of the person she was becoming.

Although Thea’s time as a DSP came to an end after two years, that’s hardly the end of her story supporting people with disabilities. Rather, she moved into a new position at Milestone as a Team Advocate. She’s now going on four years in that role, where she works to be a voice for other direct support professionals to meet their needs and, in turn, the needs of everyone supported by Milestone.

“In my role of Team Advocate,” Thea explains, “I feel an immense sense of gratitude for my experiences as a DSP. I look at our team of DSPs with the utmost respect and admiration because I know what they do every day, and how much dedication it takes to stay committed to those we support.”

Implicit in that statement is an acknowledgement of the immense challenges facing the field of direct support. For decades, a lack of adequate investment in Medicaid has meant that employers like Milestone struggle to compete for rock-star talent like Thea because the state reimburses community providers at rates that don’t keep pace with the rising costs of service delivery.

These challenges have been exacerbated tremendously in the years since Thea entered the field, first by COVID-19 and more recently by an array of evolving regulations. As a result, countless community providers have had to discontinue existing services, turn away new referrals, or close their doors completely because they simply can’t recruit and retain qualified workers.

If the situation was bad before, it stands to get irreparably worse if lawmakers in Washington are successful in cutting funding for Medicaid. Community providers already do so much with so little, thanks in part to DSPs and advocates like Thea. But cuts to the federal Medicaid program would place tremendous pressure on state budgets, thereby further restricting access to critical home- and community-based services. This comes at a time when there are already more than a half-million Americans with I/DD on states’ waiting lists.

As Thea puts it, “DSPs stay [in the field] because they cherish the individuals they support, and they’re genuinely devoted to helping them live their absolute best lives. They deserve the acknowledgment, support and empowerment that they so often give to others.”

That acknowledgment, support and empowerment is critical, but it simply cannot happen if there are significant cuts to the program that makes disability services a reality. That’s why ANCOR is working hard to ensure lawmakers in Washington reject any proposals that would cut funding for the federal Medicaid program. Lend your voice to these efforts today by finding ways to take action at the ANCOR Amplifier.