Institution for people with intellectual disabilities in Lubbock, Texas, still has big problems, investigators find

From The Dallas Morning News:

AUSTIN – The state-run facility in Lubbock for the mentally disabled, where outcries of shoddy care and exploitation sparked a federal investigation five years ago, still has big problems, independent monitors reported Thursday.

At least 13 employees have been dismissed since July as a result of investigations finding abuse or neglect, and staffing shortages contributed to three incidents in recent months in which residents with mental disabilities wandered off, the report said.

Nearly half of the institution's 105 nurse jobs haven't been filled, and the 470 low-wage direct-care workers turn over at an annual rate of 60 percent. The facility houses 230 residents.

The independent monitors, jointly named after the state and the U.S. Department of Justice reached a settlement last year, expressed particular alarm that about 20 young men with both mental illness and mental retardation were living in a dorm that had only six inexperienced attendants.

Many of the residents "have some challenging behaviors," a top state official said Thursday, adding that the group has been reassigned to other units that have at least some veteran workers.

Department of Aging and Disability Services Commissioner Chris Traylor also said he's hired a new facility director and launched an effort to hire more staff – two actions his predecessor also took after a more scathing federal report was issued 3 ½ years ago.

"We agree there are complex problems and issues in Lubbock, but we're focusing on moving forward and putting ... in place the staffing necessary to improve the quality of life for the persons in the Lubbock State Supported Living Center," Traylor said.

One disability rights advocate, though, said it's "very disheartening" to see another critical report.

"They just have never gotten off the dime out there in Lubbock," said Dennis Borel, executive director for the Coalition of Texans With Disabilities. He noted that a federal report in December 2006 cited horrific living conditions and medical mistreatment of patients at the facility, and an internal state review two years ago was "equally dismal."

The June settlement capped a four-year federal investigation that found widespread civil rights violations across Texas' 13 state institutions for the mentally disabled. The Dallas Morning News and other media outlets reported on abuse and neglect in the facilities, including the disclosure of an employee-directed "fight club" involving residents at the institution in Corpus Christi.

Federal scrutiny was most intense at facilities in Lubbock and Denton.

Three separate monitoring teams have completed "baseline" reviews at seven of the 13 former "state schools," now called state-supported living centers. Once monitors finish their initial reviews at Denton and the five remaining sites, they'll make return visits every six months through 2013.

"We're focused on long-term improvement," said Traylor, who announced he's named a new director of the Lubbock facility, Libby Allen, a 36-year veteran who spent most of her career at the Lufkin center.

Chris Adams, assistant state commissioner over the facilities, said the 13 dismissals of Lubbock staff for allegedly abusing residents showed that managers and staff there take mistreatment seriously.


Adams said he's sprinting to hire more direct-care attendants, who in Lubbock are paid about $22,500 a year. Turnover will decline as the workers get reinforcements, he said. Although only 86 percent of Lubbock's nearly 500 direct-care jobs were filled in December, 95 percent are now, he said.

Although a 45-year-old resident died of suffocation last June while being restrained, prompting the dismissals of six employees, the report said "restraint use has declined" from 52 per quarter two years ago to "29 episodes per quarter" now.

The report also praised dental and mental health care being provided to the residents, Traylor noted.

"There is a lot going right," he said.