Families Devastated Over Judah Closure

UPDATE (9/18/12): Fair Hearing Process Cut Short

The last few days I have learned that moving the men from Judah has continued, seemingly at full speed. Only Dale’s move has been put on hold. From the bits and pieces I’ve been able to learn, I think Dale’s friends have already been moved or will be moved this coming week.

After much thought, in brief, I have come to the conclusion that the Fair Hearing process is or will be more upsetting for Dale than the move to another unit. Therefore, tomorrow I will take whatever steps necessary to withdraw the request for a Fair Hearing.

At least I've learned two facts: 1) “Fair Hearing” is anything but fair. 2) What I thought was my legal right as a conservator to be duly informed has been/is being totally ignored. (At Dale’s semi-annual IPP June 21, 2012 absolutely nothing was mentioned regarding the closure of Judah or moving Dale to another unit.)

Thanks to all for your support, Sue Donaldson.

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PHA received news that Judah will be closing in the near future. Judah is a unique unit for male only behavior residents. Many of those residents have called Judah home for years and have forged relationships with staff and peers.They are one of Sonma's most vulnerable populations.

The closure of Judah at this time is puzzling for a number of reasons. Cochran, another behavior unit has only 11 residents. Of those 11, four are planning moves to community homes leaving only seven Cochran residents. Judah has 21 residents.

One reason some families were given is possible PTSD syndrome for Judah residents from the well publicized taser incident that took place one year ago. However other non Judah residents were also involved and this suggests that taser incidents occured off unit at the worksite. Clearly this explanation makes no sense. Further, members of PHA received assurance that Judah staff had been moved to break up any groups who "should have known" and reported abuse.

It is possible that the closure is for political reasons. Perhaps the publicity was an issue. Perhaps the closure was included in the Plans of Correction. Whatever the reason it is not one based on the needs of the residents. It appears Judah residents are to be subjected to further trauma.

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The following letter from Sue Donaldson, a parent of a Judah resident, was recently sent to Karen Clark, Executive Director of Sonoma Developmental Center. We reprint it here with Sue's permission.

August 26, 2012

Karen Clark, Executive Director
Sonoma Developmental Center
P. O. Box 1493
Eldridge, CA 95431

Dear Karen:

I appreciate you meeting with me last Friday and sharing some information regarding the closure of Judah which was/is my main concern. However, after much thought, I do not believe that PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) as a reason makes sense; neither does the haste (by November 1) in which the closure is being conducted.  Further, I did not hear a comprehensive plan for the closure; I also wonder why there seems to be a shroud of secrecy.

First, taser victims were from units other than Judah and understand the work site was also involved. Why is Judah the victim? Dale has been on several visits with his parents in Santa Rosa and sister in Point Arena since we were informed in late September 2011 that he was one of twelve taser victims. Also, there has been three JUFSG (Judah Unit Family Support Group) parties/luncheons. There was no notable difference in Dales or other Judah residents behavior. I believe with all my heart and soul that closing Judah will be much more traumatic than the long ago taser event. Not only will the men be taken from their home of many years, they will be separated from their friends. Judah has been Dales home for thirty years. The way I see it, the taser victims will once again be victims and more likely to exhibit PTSD and the return of resolved behavior problems.

In addition, the Judah closure will impact residents on other units; I understand the men will be relocated to at least three other units in program 4. In turn, some residents on these units will be moved to units in other programs. The rush to close Judah makes me strongly feel that Dale and all the other residents involved are being treated like merchandise instead of human beings. I was notified of the November 1 closure August 17. The more recent closures of units has been announced publicly several months in advance along with comprehensive plans.
[According to my parent/family group newsletter archives, the projected move from Paxton to renovated Judah was July 1982; this move was well planned and family members were informed of the move several months in advance. The groups first meeting/event at Judah was a BBQ August 29, 1982.]

I firmly believe that the closure of Judah is not in the best interest of all residents involved and hope the closure will be reconsidered; at least set the date of closure past the holidays.

Sincerely,
Sue A. Donaldson
cc PHA board; JUFSG

PHA President's message (video)

Earlier this month PHA President Kathleen Miller posted a statement about recent reports of abuse at Sonoma Developmental Center. (see: PHA President's statement on reports of abuse at SDC, Aug. 3, 2012.) Since then, news coverage of incidents of lapses in care at SDC and the management of the state's developmental centers has continued.

Kathleen has prepared the following video message to address questions and concerns over the most recent coverage:


Questions on Abuse Case vlog 2b aug '12 from Scott Pearson on Vimeo.

Update on recent licensing survey at Sonoma Developmental Center (video message)

At the end of May an extensive licensing survey began at Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC). PHA President Kathleen Miller touched on it in an earlier video message. (see: Video message from PHA President Kathleen Miller, July 4, 2012, on this blog)

The survey concluded on July 3, and in this video Kathleen updates us on some of the results of the review, along with some comments.


Licensing Questions vlog2a Aug '12 on Vimeo.

Conservator appeals to PHA for help in court case

The Parent Hospital Association was contacted by the sister, and conservator, of a developmentally disabled adult whose behavioral problems have gotten him mired in the legal system. She appealed to PHA for help in getting him the appropriate care and supervision he needed, rather than a prison sentence.

We have posted here in the past on similar cases, which you can read about at the following links:

Ruling spotlights problems for developmentally disabled in CA prisons

Update on developmentally disabled man caught in prison system

In this case we'll let you read Virginia's appeal and story in her own words. This is a letter we received regarding her brother Wilbert:

OPS chief latest casualty as developmental center scrutiny continues

Monica Lam/California Watch

The state's Office of Protective Services (OPS), the in-house police department that oversees about 90 officers at California's developmental centers, is looking for a new chief after Corey Smith received a demotion to second-in-command for the force.

David Montoya, police commander at the Porterville Developmental Center, is serving as interim chief, according to the state Department of Developmental Services’ website.


The personnel change is the latest response in Sacramento to a series of reports of lapses in care and management at the state's facilities serving the developmentally disabled.

You can read more on this move at OPS in the California Watch report, Developmental centers seek new police chief, by Ryan Gabrielson (August 16, 2012).

Sonoma Developmental Center and DC management in the news

There has been another editiorial by David Bolling in the Sonoma Index-Tribune, and NBC Bay Area reported a week ago that lawmakers in Sacramento have ordered an audit of the Office of Protective Services, the in-house police department at the state's developmental centers.

see:
Pull back veil on SDC, David Bolling, Aug. 6, 2012, Sonoma Index-Tribune
Lawmakers Order Audit of Developmental Center Police, Ryan Gabrielson, California Watch, Aug. 9, 2012

PHA will continue to keep our members posted on current events and news about the care of residents at SDC and the support of the developmentally disabled throughout Northern California. Check this blog for updates -- and remember, the next general membership meeting is coming up 10 a.m., Saturday, September 8th, in McDougall on the SDC campus.

SDC in the news - a recap

Sonoma Developmental Center has been in the news recently after California Report and ABC7 reported on incidents of abuse with a Taser, which occurred last September at the Center. If you haven't already read some of the coverage, we've posted several links below to help you keep up with the story.

You can read PHA President Kathleen Miller's comments here (PHA President's statements on reports of abuse at SDC) and also in one of the articles that ran in the Sonoma Index-Tribune (SDC parent not surprised).

The next general membership meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 8, in McDougall hall on the SDC campus. Come with your questions, comments and concerns. If you can't make the meeting, watch for the latest edition of The Eldridge Gazette, or check back here for updates.

Sonoma Index-Tribune:

State says SDC won't close
Sonoma Index-Tribune
Against a background of uncertainty about the future of the Sonoma Developmental Center, and amidst rumors circulating through a parents association and the Sonoma Valley that it may soon close, the recent revelation that a dozen severely disabled patients at SDC... 

SDC parent not surprised
Sonoma Index-Tribune
When California Watch broke the story July 31 that a caregiver at the Sonoma Developmental Center named Archie Millora had been accused of abusing a dozen patients with a Taser stun gun, Kathleen Miller was not surprised. She had known about the case for months. ...


Shocking abuse at SDC
Sonoma Index-Tribune editorial
California has approximately 1,700 developmentally disabled patients housed in five campus centers with a combined annual budget of $550 million. That translates into about $320,000 per-patient, per-year – a staggering sum. Something under 550 of those patients are currently housed at the Sonoma Developmental Center…

No charges in SDC Taser assault
Sonoma Index-Tribune
Someone using a stun gun like a cattle prod assaulted a dozen patients at the Sonoma Developmental Center last fall, inflicting painful…

Santa Rosa Press Democrat:

Probe of patient abuse at Sonoma Developmental Center raises questions
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Someone using a stun gun like a cattle prod assaulted a dozen patients last fall at the Sonoma Developmental Center…

State attorney general urged to investigate Sonoma Developmental Center
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Advocates for the disabled on Thursday urged the state Department of Justice to take over the investigation and prosecution of a former Sonoma Developmental Center employee who is alleged to have used a stun gun on 11 patients. In a letter to Attorney ...

Elsewhere:

Patient stun gun abuse shows flawed care
San Francisco Chronicle
The Sonoma Developmental Center's in-house police force, the Office of Protective Services, had a suspect from the start. An anonymous whistle-blower called a tip line in September and accused Archie Millora, a caregiver at the facility, of abusing several...

Taser Abuse Against Disabled Inquiry Sought
NBC Bay Area
A prominent advocacy group for the disabled and parents of Sonoma Developmental Center patients are calling for an outside investigation into stun gun assaults last fall against a dozen patients at the institution.

Documents uncover questions about attacks on disabled patients
KGO-TV
ABC7 News and media partner California Watch have uncovered a series of Taser gun assaults on severely disabled patients at the Sonoma Developmental Center. A longtime staffer may be responsible for the assaults. Both the executive director ...

Investigating Assaults on Patients in State Care
California Report
In September of last year, the executive director of the Sonoma Developmental Center received a tip on his answering machine that said an assistant psychiatric technician named Archie Millora was using a stun gun on several patients at one ...

PHA President's statement on reports of abuse at SDC

Most of you are aware that a story about an individual who worked at Sonoma Developmental Center and used a taser on some of the residents has recently hit the airways and many of the local papers. (See list of links below.) We are all shocked and saddened by the fact that such a thing can and did happen.

Some families have asked me why PHA did not inform them or even contact the press when this happened. Therefore I wish to clarify that it is not the role of PHA to insure that the press is kept informed but to insure that the families of those residents involved in this or any type of abuse are quickly informed. To my knowledge the staff have always done this and continue to do this today. It is up to family to decide if they wish to share information or deal with issues in a more private way. PHA is here to support families and residents and we respect the decisions they make.

However, it is different entirely when a story about a past incident is coming out in the press and going out live on the airways. This is especially true because there is some perception out there, I have read as much, that families care more about keeping the developmental centers open than they do about what happens to the residents or even their own family members.

I cannot let such a gross misperception stand! It is for that reason, and also to represent the views of PHA and families to the best of my abilities, I granted an interview with Vick Lee at ABC7 news. Even though he did a good job with the interview, time constraints did not allow for the full interview to be on the air. I also spoke with David Bolling, editor of the Sonoma Index-Tribune and I include his article here.

Kathleen Miller, PHA President

SIT editorial coverage: Shocking abuse at SDC, by David Bolling
(published August 2, 2012 in the Sonoma Index-Tribune)

California has approximately 1,700 developmentally disabled patients housed in five campus centers with a combined annual budget of $550 million. 

That translates into about $320,000 per-patient, per-year – a staggering sum.

Something under 550 of those patients are currently housed at the Sonoma Developmental Center at Eldridge, just outside Glen Ellen, in the first, largest and most bucolic such facility created in the state, a scenic and serene country campus that once totaled more than 1,700 acres.

That population has been in steady decline for decades, and it has plummeted in the past 20 years, dropping from close to 1,200 patients in 1994 to 531 patients in June of this year.

As a business model, SDC may not make much sense. As a residential model it is a dream.

But as revealed by Ryan Gabrielson’s shocking story in the California Report this week (see A1), and as chronicled over the years by the Index-Tribune, the dream campus is not immune to nightmares and abuse can occur even among the most vulnerable.

Caring for developmentally disabled patients is demanding work, requiring patience, professional training, compassion and a high staff-to-patient ratio. Not everyone employed in such work is qualified – by temperament or training – to do so. Witness the alleged behavior by the Taser-wielding psyche tech exposed by Gabrielson’s story.

But if you talk to the parents and guardians of some of those 531 SDC patients, three compelling impressions emerge. First, they treasure the opportunity to have their loved-ones housed in such a scenic, secure, generally caring and geographically convenient facility. Second, they are concerned that the quality of care has begun to decline as staff levels drop. And third, they fear that the state has an unspoken agenda to shrink the patient population until the vast, and admittedly expensive, facility is forced to close.

If there is one word most often uttered by parents to describe the communication they receive from the state’s Department of Developmental Services, it is “secretive.” They are told little, they say, about what goes on behind the scenes or within the offices of DDS authorities.

They are, however, informed as a matter of strict policy when their family members are the victims of abusive “incidents.” Parents therefore knew almost immediately when the accused caregiver assaulted 12 SDC patients with a Taser. According to one parent, patient’s families were told about the incidents and were informed that an investigation was underway by an outside agency and that the accused assailant was gone.

But the employee accused of Tasing the severely disabled patients has not been charged with a crime, even though SDC police found a Taser and a loaded Glock handgun under the front seat of his car, a violation of the state’s concealed weapons law.

While an act of aberrant abuse should not be construed as typical behavior by the center’s over-worked staff, the failure of the on-site police force to properly report it is baffling, unconscionable and raises troubling questions about DDS management and leadership, as well as the competency and integrity of the SDC police.

To read other coverage of this issue see:
No charges in SDC Taser assault, Sonoma Index-Tribune, August 2, 2012.
Probe of patient abuse at Sonoma Developmental Center raises questions, Press Democrat, Aug. 1, 2012
Documents uncover questions about attacks on disabled patients, ABC7 News coverage, Aug. 1, 2012.
ABC7 News reports on stun gun incidents at SDC, this blog, August 2, 2012.

ABC7 News Reports on Stun Gun Incidents at SDC

News of investigations into the stun gun incidents at Sonoma Developmental Center, which apparently occurred there last fall, have been in the news this week with one article published in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and another report on the ABC7 evening news. There was also an editorial in the Sonoma Index-Tribune (see: Shocking abuse at SDC).

You can read the Press Democrat artice here: Probe of patient abuse at Sonoma Developmental Center raises questions. The ABC7 report aired on Wednesday, August 1 -- the video segment below is taken from their website. PHA President Kathleen Miller had been interviewed for the ABC7 report and a portion of her comments were included in Wednesday's broadcast. She is not, however, included in this video clip.

For more on ABC's coverage, read the online article Documents uncover questions about attacks on disabled patients.



Stay posted for more information as this issue continues to develop.