Protestors call for criminal charges against Pennsylvania residential center, where autistic man died in hot van

From Bucks County Courier Times. In the picture, Cassie Holdsworth from Bensalem joins other members of the Alliance fo Inclusive Education at the entrance to Woods Services in Middletown July 29 to protest the death of Bryan Nevins, 20 who died Saturday under the care of Woods Services.

Cassie Holdsworth doesn't blame the suspended Woods Services employee responsible for supervising a 20-year old-severely autistic man for his heat-related death after he was left inside a van for more than five hours on a record hot day.

The Bensalem resident says the fault lies with the state Department of Public Welfare, which licenses the Middletown center that provides residential, educational and vocational services to more than 700 people with severe disabilities.

She said state bureaucrats do a lousy job of overseeing institutions like Woods Services and protecting the people who live there. Employees who work directly with clients are not well trained or well paid, she said.

"I am outraged. The DPW shouldn't be warehousing children," said Holdsworth, who has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair. "Anyone can live in the community with the right supports."

Holdsworth was among the nearly two dozen people who gathered outside Woods Services on Thursday to protest the institutionalism of people with disabilities and call for the state to close the Middletown campus where Bryan Nevins died Saturday.

The protesters who represented local disability rights groups called for the state to halt further admissions to Woods Services until a full public inquiry into Nevins' death is completed.

They also demanded the Bucks County district attorney criminally charge not only employees responsible, but CEO Robert Griffith with criminally negligent homicide.

"In life Bryan was not known to others and was literally forgotten,'' said Colleen Tomko, who drove an hour from her home in Coopersburg, Lehigh County. "In death Bryan represents all those that could face a similar fate at any moment."

But it doesn't have to be that way, Tomko said. Her son, Shaun, 20, has multiple disabilities, he cannot speak or walk, but he attends Lehigh University, where he majors in theater, part of a pilot program for people with disabilities.

Meanwhile, Bryan Nevins' father, William Nevins, a retired New York City homicide lieutenant, said July 29 that his son and his brother, William, who also has autism and until Saturday lived at Woods Services, were well cared for.

"I'm not going to let the mistake of one person ruin the five years that they spent there, or the wonderful care they were given,'' Nevins said. "I feel it's neglect on that one person's part. Perhaps they'll have some kind of double inspection the next time, where two people are responsible.''

Bryan Nevins, one of a set of triplets, was described as very low functioning, unable to speak, but able to walk.

During their hour-long vigil, protesters, most using wheelchairs, blocked the Woods Service exit off Maple Avenue. They held signs with slogans like "Our Homes are Not Institutions" and "Close Woods" and chanted "Bryan had a community he never got to meet," their voices nearly drowned out by heavy traffic along at busy intersection.

"We know what is going on in there right now," yelled Johnny Crescendo, a protest organizer and Holdsworth's husband. "It's called a (expletive) cover up. Bryan is a person just like me and you. I want these people charged to the fullest extent of the law."

Eventually, the protesters headed up the long driveway onto the campus where they laid flower bouquets and a teddy bear under a tree and held a brief memorial service in Nevins' memory.

Campus security and Middletown police observed the protest, but no arrests were made. Woods Services administration did not issue a statement in response to the protest, and Griffith reportedly declined to meet with protesters.

Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said this week that his office is continuing its investigation into what happened and if criminal charges are warranted. The state Department of Welfare, which holds 25 operating licenses for Woods Services, is conducting its own investigation.

Also July 29, Woods Services lifted the suspension of an unidentified male residential counselor who had been on the day trip with two other clients Saturday based on initial results of its internal investigation into the death, spokeswoman Cheryl Kauffman said. A second female counselor, an eight year employee, responsible for Nevins and another client on the trip, remains suspended.

The protesters contended that letting people with disabilities- even ones like Nevins who require intensive, 24-hour supervision - live within the community is cheaper and more beneficial to the person.

"In an institution people become like objects, like a purse you leave in the car," said Madeleine McMahon of Liberty Resources, a Philadelphia agency that advocates for people with disabilities.

McMahon added that part of the problem is that federal Social Security law guarantees payments for nursing home or other residential care, but not for home and community based services.

Woods Services, founded in 1913, is licensed for 857 beds and currently employs 1,912 people. Of that total, 969 are residential or staff counselors who spend their full shifts caring for one or more residents, Kauffman said.

"Regulating agencies place great emphasis on reviewing the training records of Woods' staff like they do all people working under DPW regulation," Kauffman said. "The records are routinely reviewed by such."

Pennsylvania requires employees at residential centers - such as Woods Services - must at least have a high school diploma or General Equivalency Diploma and the ability to speak English. They also are subject to child-abuse and criminal-history checks.

Employees, including part-time and temporary, with regular and significant direct contact with children also must complete at least 40 hours of training annually relating to the care and management of children, first aid training and CPR training and certification, and fire safety.

Records of staff training, including the employee's name, date, source, content and length of the training must be kept as well as copies of any certificates received, according to state regulations.

State regulations also state that staff at centers caring for children under 21 years old must conduct observational checks of each child "at least every hour" that involves actually physically viewing each child.

Kauffman was unable to provide specific information about the training for the individuals involved in Nevins' death, citing the center's continuing internal investigation.

How Nevins, originally from Long Island, N.Y., was left inside the seven-passenger van for more than five hours after the trip to the theme park remains unclear at this point. Also unclear is if the van was locked, if Nevins was wearing a seat belt or if he was ever taken out of the van.

The van was parked in its proper space, in front of the residence hall about 200 feet from the building where Nevins and one of the other clients who went on the trip lived, police said. The female counselor responsible for supervising Nevins and another man returned the car keys when her shift ended.

Nevins, who was seated in the far rear seat of the van, was found lying on his back inside the van at about 5:35 p.m. Saturday, after a nurse could not find him, police said. Temperatures on Saturday reached 97 degrees with the heat index - the combination of temperature and humidity - hitting triple digits.

Nevins' death was the second heat-related car death involving an adult with a disability this year, according to KidsAndCars.org, a vehicle safety advocacy group.

Since 1999, at least other eight adults with disabilities in the U.S. have died of hyperthermia after they were left in vehicles according to the group. All but three cases involved unrelated caregivers.