Incidents of residents attacking each other triples at Louisiana center for people with MR diagnosis

From The Towntalk in Alexandria, Va.

PINEVILLE, La. -- During the last year there were more serious attacks committed by residents on residents in Pinecrest Supports and Services Center than in previous years, according to numbers provided by state Department of Health and Hospitals.

Nine attacks from July 1, 2009, to June 30 were classified as "major." In the same period from 2007-08, there were three major attacks.

In the past year, there also were more incidents of resident-on-resident sexual aggression, and more resident-to-staff attacks that resulted in an injury.
And the overall resident-on-resident attacks classified as "minor" are up too, the numbers show.

There had been increased movement of people into Pinecrest who have psychological problems and some degree of mental retardation.

They are higher-functioning than many of the historical Pinecrest residents, some of whose disabilities are severe.

Some of the newer Pinecrest residents are those who have been through the judicial system and were ordered there by judges, according to DHH correspondence.
Others, whose psychiatric care is within the treatment abilities of centers like Pinecrest, are arriving from hospitals and other places.

And they'll continue to arrive as some at Pinecrest leave.

Alan Levine, outgoing secretary of DHH, acknowledged that there are more residents coming into all of the centers who have "higher acuity levels" - higher functioning - than traditional Pinecrest residents. Some of the newer residents have both psychological problems and a level of mental retardation that is not as severe as many at Pinecrest.

"I can't dispute the facts," Levine said. "What I can tell you is it changes the dynamic of how we care for folks."

A major part of Gov. Bobby Jindal's plan is to remove around 200 of the more than 1,000 current residents at the state's five supports and services centers, those who are deemed fit and have the social skills to live outside state institutions and in community homes or larger private institutions. The state is completely shutting the doors at Northeast Supports and Services Center, which had problems over the years with staff, and moving residents from there to the four remaining centers.

Levine said the transition will expand services and help more state residents who need it, including those with psychological problems.

"Everyone has a right to receive the services that the state provides," Levine said.

But family members of the mentally disabled who have been at Pinecrest for years say the residents being allowed in now don't belong.

"Why is the governor turning a beautiful institution like Pinecrest into a penal institution?" said Terry Lefleur, whose daughter Jamie, now 31, has been there for nine years.

Pinecrest is receiving and housing some clients who have been through the criminal court system.

"Often, individuals who exhibit violent behavior have gone through the judicial system and are then admitted to Pinecrest because the court system has placed the individual in the custody of (DHH) and ordered DHH to admit them," Kathy Kliebert, outgoing secretary of the Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities, wrote in a letter to state Rep. Chris Hazel, R-Ball. Hazel's district includes Pinecrest.

"More simply stated, we are often court-ordered to admit these individuals," Kliebert stated.

Hazel had inquired about an incident in 2009 in which a Pinecrest resident attacked and severely injured another. Hazel had been contacted by the Rapides Parish District Attorney's Office, which was looking into the matter.

Kliebert stated that some at Pinecrest are "persons who are charged with a crime, who have a developmental disability, who are found incompetent to stand trial."

Others admitted to Pinecrest are being discharged from Central Hospital, a psychiatric-care facility also in Pineville, Kliebert stated. Central also is under the DHH umbrella.

She said Central patients "may still require extensive services and because those services are not available anywhere else, this sometimes results in admission to one of our OCDD centers."

Still others housed at Pinecrest, she stated, were "persons with severe aggressive behaviors" who came from private institutions.

Levine said the changing population at the centers reaffirms the governor's plan to move those who are more socially prepared out of Pinecrest and into the community.

"Philosophically, that is why we believe you want people in a less restrictive, less institutional setting and more in a community-based setting," Levine said.
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