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Fernald Developmental
Center still slated
for closure
(November
2004 Issue)
By Elinor Nelson
The Fernald Developmental Center in Waltham, Mass., a residential
facility for the mentally and developmentally disabled, is filled
with elderly residents who have known no other life. Profoundly
retarded or developmentally disabled, they were children at a time
when public schools were not an option and social services were
scant; their parents felt they had no choice but to place them in
institutions like Fernald.
The state, however, has slated Fernald for closure and while it's
been unable to keep to the original schedule of closure by October
2004, the Department of Mental Retardation projects closure by 2006
or 2007. Says Donna Rheaume, DMR's spokesperson: "We're in the process
of transitioning our folks from Fernald to either the community
or one of our other facilities. We're working with the families
to make the best possible placements based on their needs."
Rheaume declined to offer an estimate of cost savings, citing the
complexity of downsizing the large Waltham campus. So far, she says,
35 residents have been placed out, leaving a population of 227.
Distraught at the plan to move severely disabled residents, families
of Fernald patients have filed a lawsuit in federal district court
to reopen the case of Ricci v. Okin, (which had adjudicated conditions
at Fernald and other state institutions, entering a final order
in 1993), stating their opposition to the planned closure.
Colleen Lutkevich, executive director of the Coalition of Families
and Advocates for the Retarded (COFAR) advocates for the Fernald
families and proposes a "postage stamp" concept for a "village of
Fernald." Freely conceding a campus of valuable real estate, Lutkevich
suggests selling off much of the land to support a small section
used for the residents.
She recalls the years before the Ricci case, when "conditions in
state facilities were abhorrent," and commends the lawsuit for improving
conditions and moving many residents with "better ability" into
less restrictive settings. But, she says, "those who remain there
are more profoundly retarded and have more issues than those in
community settings; they need to be there." She worries about them
being separated from elderly parents and staff who know them and
placed in other state institutions that could soon be slated for
closure, too.
Nevertheless, many other advocacy groups are on the state's side,
considering the institutionalization of even the severely impaired
to be antiquated. "We believe that people can be served better in
smaller settings with the right supports," says Leo Sarkissian,
executive director of Arc of Massachusetts, the state arm of a lobbying
group for retarded citizens. He says that if the state were to invest
in Fernald, fix the buildings and make long-term capital expenditures,
then DMR would be forced to continue to place patients there, counter
to current trends. But, he cautions, all transfers must follow the
principle of the money following the person.
Stan Eichner, director of litigation for the Disability Law Center
(DLC), a private nonprofit funded mostly with federal funds, which
represents the needs of the developmentally disabled, agrees with
the state's plans. In a motion to intervene in the reopening of
the Ricci lawsuit, the DLC cites a "core priority" of "advocating
for the treatment of individuals with disabilities in the least
restrictive environment and supporting efforts by DMR to follow
the nationwide trend of moving [them] out of institutional settings
and into appropriate, supported community settings."
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