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"A History of Neglect"
New Lisbon Developmental
Center
"Can you adequately serve 600 people in one facility? . . .
All of the research suggests that can't be done."
--Ethan Ellis, executive
director of the New Jersey Developmental Disabilities Council, after federal
investigators determined that at least 4 people died of neglect in the state's
institutions during 2001
2004
August 2:
New Jersey Settles
With Feds Over New Lisbon Violations
2002
March 7: Governor Plans To
Rescue State's Neglectful Institutions
2001
June 19: Director Calls Federal
Report an "Opportunity to Improve" Developmental Centers
September 7:
New Lisbon Center Still Not Safe, Feds Say
Director Calls Federal Report an "Opportunity to
Improve" Developmental Centers
June 19, 2001
WOODLAND, NEW
JERSEY--At the end of last month, inspectors from the federal Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services (formerly HCFA) arrived unannounced at New
Lisbon Developmental Center, an institution housing 670 people with
developmental disabilities.
When they were finished going through records and interviewing people, the team sent their report to state officials. New Lisbon had a number of problems that federal inspectors said posed "a serious risk, or jeopardy for residents".
The report has not yet been made public. But last week Jim Smith, New Jersey's acting commissioner of the Department of Human Services, said he welcomed it as an opportunity to improve conditions at New Lisbon and the state's six other developmental centers.
Monday's Philadelphia Inquirer ran this story about the report and the
state's reaction:
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/red/0619a.htm
According to the Inquirer story, New Jersey now has 3,500 people with developmental disabilities living in institutions. That is not considerably less than the 4,025 who lived there three years ago, according to the ongoing State of the States report done through the Department of Disability and Human Development University of Illinois at Chicago.
Details from that report are available by going to this web address,
then clicking on "State Profiles":
http://www.uic.edu/depts/idhd/StateoftheStates/home.htm
New Lisbon Center Still Not Safe, Feds
Say
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
September 7,
2001
WOODLAND, NEW JERSEY--On January 12 of this year, Richard Fort, 47
was beaten by his roommate at New Lisbon Developmental Center. He died from his
injuries two weeks later.
On March 23, Raymond C. Bergen, 63, was hit and killed by a van when he wandered across a highway about a mile from the institution.
On June 27, a New Lisbon resident tried to take a soda from another resident. When an employee ran after him and restrained him, he fell and hit his head. The man died from those injuries.
Months after these unusual deaths prompted federal investigations, the remaining 565 people with developmental disabilities housed there are still not safe.
During an inspection in May, federal officials reported that conditions at New Lisbon constituted an "immediate jeopardy to client health and safety." Surveys since then have found that the facility continues to violate federal health and safety standards.
According to a letter sent Tuesday to state officials by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (formerly HCFA), the facility has 60 days to meet those standards or risk losing nearly half of its $80 million budget.
New Lisbon is one of seven state-run institutions in Pennsylvania which house a total of 3,500 people with developmental disabilities.
Governor Plans To Rescue State's Neglectful
Institutions
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
March 7,
2002
TRENTON, NEW JERSEY--At least four people housed in New Jersey's
institutions died last year from neglect, federal investigators have
revealed.
Inspectors from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS) found "very serious problems" at the New Lisbon Treatment Center and Woodbridge Development Center, including a lack of therapy services, poorly trained staffs, residents' injuries caused by other residents, along with those deaths. Investigators also found records of "10 fractures of unknown origin involving 10 different clients living in different cottages" over a six-month period at Woodbine Developmental Center.
The problems at New Lisbon and Woodbridge alone could cost the state up to $73 million in Medicaid funding. The state has 30 days to come up with a corrective plan of action.
Governor James E. McGreevey called the institution problems the legacy of "a history of neglect."
In spite of the problems, however, McGreevey said there are no plans to close any of the state's seven institutions that house 3,400 people with developmental disabilities. In fact, the governor plans to rescue the facilities by spending $13 million to hire 514 more institution employees.
The governor's decision goes against the international trend toward smaller, community-based services. It also goes against the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court's Olmstead ruling, which found that "unnecessarily" institutionalizing people violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"Can you adequately serve 600 people in one facility?" asked Ethan Ellis, executive director of the New Jersey Developmental Disabilities Council.
"All of the research suggests that can't be done," Ellis said.
More details are available from the New Jersey Star-Ledger:
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-0/101550302183526.xml
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