Inclusion Daily Express -- Lawmaker, Advocates, And Newspaper Call For Closing Institution

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Lawmaker, Advocates, And Newspaper Call For Closing Institution
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
February 2, 2007

OWINGS MILLS, MARYLAND--A Maryland lawmaker announced Thursday that he would introduce a proposal to close Maryland's largest state-run institution housing people with developmental disabilities and move most of the residents to homes in the community.

The proposal by Delegate James W. Hubbard came on the same day that the Maryland Disability Law Center, the state's federally mandated protection and advocacy system, released a scathing report about the treatment of residents at Rosewood Center, which houses about 200 people.

The 25-page MDLC report came just a few days after the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issued a month-long ban on all new admissions to the facility and threatened to pull $17 million in federal funding. State investigators found that conditions at Rosewood violated the rights of residents, and that officials failed to protect them from harm, and to fully investigate and properly report injuries and allegations of abuse and neglect.

Among other things, the report revealed that employees were relying too much on restraints and seclusion to control behavior. In one case, a deaf resident identified as "Jason", who had gone without a sign language interpreter for much of the time, had been restrained for misbehavior in a "safety coat", which is similar to a straitjacket -- effectively cutting off his only means of communication.

In another incident, a resident who was supposed to be monitored at all times stabbed another resident with a knife he stole from a store.

The MDLC report noted that Rosewood fails to support family connections by denying visits to family members, and fails to make sure young residents attend school. It also said that much of the trouble at Rosewood stems from the fact that many of those who have been placed in recent years have been court-ordered there because they are suspected of crimes, but are not considered competent to stand trial.

In a press release, the center added that the average cost of care at Rosewood is $180,000 -- more than twice the average cost of community residential services, and that the state could receive up to $67 million in federal money through a Money Follows the Person grant to move people from institutions into the community.

"The timing for closing this institution could not be better," the MDAC report concluded.

The regional director that oversees Rosewood's operations told the Baltimore Sun that part of the problem has to do with staff shortages.

Alexis M. Melin said the facility currently has 30 vacancies in its residential unit, and added that it might be difficult to recruit and process new workers because the facility only has one person in its personnel department.

"We do not have a personnel director. We do not have a deputy director. And we do not have a personnel assistant," Melin said.

In its Friday editorial, the Baltimore Sun urged the state to shutter Rosewood, which was built in 1887.

"A growing number of states have abandoned centralized institutional care as ineffective and costly," it concluded.

"Maryland should, too."

Related:
"Rosewood warned of funding cutoff" (Baltimore Sun)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0202d.htm
"Disabled center's closure debated" (Baltimore Sun)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0202e.htm
"Opinion: Rosewood's revocation" (Baltimore Sun)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0202f.htm
"Report -- Rosewood Center: A Demand for Closure" (Maryland Disability Law Center)
http://www.mdlcbalto.org/pdfs/RosewoodReport.pdf

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