Because not everyone had a chance to speak in person at the meeting, we are posting some letters and statements here. This page will be updated as more letters are made available. You will find the most recent additions at the top of the page.
Below are letters from PHA members Veta Drake (2) and Sue Donaldson:
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March 9, 2012
Dale is a Person
by Sue Donaldson, his mother
The very upsetting recent one-sided news reports obviously had a specific agenda: close the Developmental Centers. If my non-verbal autistic son with severe behavior challenges were to be placed in the community, I fear for his overall well-being, even his life.
Dale has been a resident of Sonoma developmental Center (SDC) for 41 years – since he was 15 years old. Dale’s quality of life at SDC has far exceeded my expectations in 1970. A quality of life that, with any stretch of the imagination, can NOT be duplicated in a community home (e.g., behavior management, medical, dental, daily living skills, vocational, leisure and consistent, trained hands-on staff).
Before SDC there was first the frustrating task of finding out what was wrong. At age five, Dale’s final diagnosis was infantile autism and he was briefly allowed to attend a school for the mentally retarded.
From age 7 to 14 Dale was in a private treatment center: 2 years residential and 5 years day program, where there was slow but positive, progressive improvements in social and communicative skills.
The year he turned 14, Dale rapidly regressed into severe behaviors including aggression, self-injurious behavior and eloping in a flash. Dale put himself in physical danger by invading other people’s fenced property. Eventually, these behaviors sent him to the county hospital psychiatric wing where he was put on the drug thorazine, which turned him into a zombie.. Dale had never before taken any psychiatric medication.
Even though I preferred that dale be placed at Sonoma State Hospital (SSH), the county insisted on placing him in a “community” home where I had to call before visiting. Upon investigating the home’s license, I learned the home did not qualify for coverage by OCHAMPUS (military insurance). With the help of a military organization for special needs children, Dale was placed at SSH, now known as Sonoma Developmental Center.
At SDC, I quickly learned that the staff encouraged family participation. Two examples:
- Early on, at a program planning meeting, our opinion was requested regarding “weaning” Dale from thorazine. Other psychotropic drugs were tried without success. Since 1982, Dale has been free of psychiatric medication.
- Although Dale was placed in a locked unit with a high security fence and a diligent staff, he became an escape artist. After several ideas failed to discourage his elopements, his behavior modification program included visits home on weekends if he did not take off from unit or off-unit activities. If he left home premises, dale was returned to SDC immediately when found. This arrangement not only decreased elopements, it meant dale spent time with family on a regular basis – kind of like he was away at school.
The SDC staff are creative in finding activities that will spark an interest in Dale. Going to a restaurant is one of his favorite off-campus activities. For years he has looked forward to on-campus special events such as SDC Art Show, Cinco de Mayo, Halloween Parade, Black and White Ball. He is also a member of the equestrian program. He greatly enjoys going to the Sonoma county Fair. Over the years, he has been on special outings such as snow trips, a ferry boat ride and Marine World.
Dale has had a job for many years, which greatly improved his self-esteem. His habit of stuffing foliage and garbage that he gathered into his pocket led to the staff’s innovative idea to try training him with the yard maintenance crew. Dale currently works with the recycling crew.
Last but not least, in 2010 Dale had a sudden onset of left-sided weakness. An alert staff took the necessary action to get Dale to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital in time for treatment, preventing the debilitating effects of a stroke.
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To the Honorable Mike Thompson:
and Honorables Noreen Evans, Michael Allen, Jared Huffman, Lynn Woolsey, Leyland Yee, Fiona Ma, Mark Leno and Wesley Chesbro
We are thankful that we have an action-oriented person to whom we can bring our concerns. Our concern that necessitates immediate and firm attention is the effort by a few self-serving politicians in local and state governments that wish to close the regional Developmental Centers, which harbor all ages and all levels of citizens afflicted with major development and social disorders, many not even able to speak, much less with the ability to make a choice. Our particular concern at this point is the Sonoma Developmental Center, located at 1500 Arnold Drive, in Eldridge, CA.
The developmental centers are a godsend to both the patients and to their families. Basically the folks that are condemning the centers are promoting their own agendas, with no concern of understanding of the contributions made by the centers. Their actions are somewhat like bullying socially incapacitated people, none of whom have the ability to defend themselves and cannot conceive what is happening and a high percentage that are completely mute. The bullies’ plan is to close the centers and send the patients out to individual homes or to a different type of facility.
Many of the patients of the developmental centers have never been exposed to the outside world, unable to perform the simple daily functions of getting dressed, normal food participation, or daily body functions without assistance. Think of yourself a never been out of your home, never walked somewhere by yourself, never driven a car, or located and used a toilet by yourself, or found an address of the place you were living. A minor comparison may be the first time you entered the U.S. Congressional Chamber as a new member. You would likely do well, but what if you could not find the podium? And when you did you were not able to speak, or if you could speak, you had no comprehension of the plan or the order in which your presentation would proceed, or of your background of procedure and protocol? This may be a simplified example, and if so try to realize what it would be like if it descended to the -10 level and no thoughts or memory were there to help you.
This is a simplified version of the status of most of the patients that utilize the developmental centers, but I am sure you know that greedy/unethical politicians focus their attack on the weaker or helpless agencies, i.e. the State parks, battered women and children’s homes, and the Fish and Game department. And there is always a monetary or vote involvement for the politicians that lead and support these positions. Congressman Thompson, we hope that we can count on you to ignore the radical cry and not close the legitimate and long-term usefulness of the care units and support their continuation.
And yes we have a daughter that has a long-term and a happy and productive experience in the Sonoma Developmental Center. It is imperative to her life and to our contentment that the center will remain open. Thank you for your consideration.
Yours truly,
Veta Drake
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Dear Governor Brown:
This is another letter to you and several members of the legislature with a plea to try and get some help in the prevention of the future closure of the Sonoma Development Center in Eldridge, California. We have never received even a single response. I assume that you and your legislators are so fully involved in trying to get yourselves re-elected you do not have time to recognize the concern of your constituents. However, hoping that you may have a smitten of compassion left in yourselves, we are trying again to get your attention and consideration.
The Sonoma Development Center has a solid reputation for the treatment, care and protection of its disabled patients that is second to none. The facility is housed in a tranquil and idyllic setting for patients that are either mentally or physically incapable and cannot care for themselves. Some of the patients there have been at the facility since early childhood, and they have no reference to ever being in the outside world.
Our particular connection is a child 60-years-old, non-verbal, incontinent, severely retarded, who cannot defend herself or tell someone if she is hurt. She is happy where she is and would be totally lost outside this environment. She is where she belongs. She has lived at SDC for 54 years. It would be of interest to see how you or one of your legislators would react were you in this position with even one-half of these disabilities.
It is a foregone conclusion that if you close this facility due to costs of up-keep and repair, in essence such action would end the life of many of the patients and dramatically affect their families. In California we do not seem to be able to enact a death sentence of a convicted murderer, yet you are contemplating sentencing a mass of patients to a similar experience. As an elected representative of “all the people”, surely you still have a smattering of compassion outside your political circle of friends and lobbyists.
Sincerely,
Veta I Drake,
Mother of Karen Lawler, who resides at SDC, Bently Cottage
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