NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Advocates for people with intellectual disabilities want the long-delayed closure of the Clover Bottom Developmental Center for people with intellectual disabilities to move forward as quickly as possible.
The Tennessean reports (https://tnne.ws/1j1vqPn) the 90-year-old Nashville institution has been under court oversight for nearly two decades, but there still are ongoing health and safety concerns for its 40 residents.
And the cost to taxpayers has reached $511,000 per resident each year.
“With as many years that have passed trying to make the institution a better place - and all the resources put into the place - when you are still at a point where people are not getting care, it is alarming,” said Donna DeStefano, assistant director at the Tennessee Disability Coalition.
The institution was slated for closure in 2010, with residents to move into supportive housing in residential neighborhoods. Some have moved, but the process has run into many delays. The last residents are now expected to leave by May 2015.
Jaylon Fincannon oversees a court-appointed panel that reviews conditions at Clover Bottom. She said the amount of time that has passed since the announced closure is affecting the quality of support and services there.
Fincannon said that at the time of the panel’s 2013 review the facility was operating with one part-time medical director, and there were vacancies for nurses, physical therapists and occupational therapists.
The panel’s report noted a lack of therapy staff so severe that in some cases it “presents a risk to the health and safety of most of the individuals.”
Carrie Hobbs Guiden is executive director of The ARC Tennessee, which is under contract with the state Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to provide advocacy to Clover Bottom residents.
Guiden said that rather than training support staff to help residents walk and exercise, Clover Bottom officials rely on physical therapists to provide help for even the most basic tasks. Because there are not enough physical therapists, some residents don’t get the routine mobility help they need.
On Thursday, state Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Debra Payne abruptly fired the Clover Bottom director and another top official, shortly after The Tennessean began writing about problems there.
Payne said it was part of the process of preparing to move residents into housing in the community.
But some advocates say a change of leadership won’t help Clover Bottom because the institutional structure is the problem.
“It isn’t the managers that are making this bad. It’s the situation,” said James Conroy, an expert who tracks institution closures with Philadelphia-based Center for Outcome Analysis. “You can’t help people lead good lives in a big, isolated institution.”
___
Information from: The Tennessean, https://www.tennessean.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.