Meagher maintained that despite U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro's ruling last year that Fernald must remain open to its current residents, the Patrick administration “is trying to subvert that order by reducing the number of residents at Fernald.” The administration has appealed Tauro's ruling to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Unlike most of the remaining Fernald residents, whose guardians and families oppose their transfers out of the facility, the elderly woman is represented legally by a corporate guardian, the Arc of Greater Boston, Inc. (GBARC). GBARC has approved the move, apparently giving DMR the green light to transfer her as early as this coming Thursday to a newly constructed group home in Bedford.
GBARC is affiliated with the Arc of Massachusetts, which is pushing hard for Fernald's closure. So, it's not surprising that GBARC has given its approval to a move that the woman has said she doesn't want and that those working directly with her oppose. The question that Meagher has is how GBARC could have her best interests at heart in this case.
GBARC also represents at least five other Fernald residents, all of whom it has similarly approved for moves to houses in Bedford and Shrewsbury. Three of those residents, none of whom can speak, each of whom is profoundly retarded, and none of whom the 91-year-old woman knows, will be living with her in the Bedford house.
Meagher contends the plan to move the elderly woman out has to do with DMR's larger plans to close Fernald and privatize its services. As part of the overall consolidation and closure effort, DMR plans to close a cottage on the Fernald campus in the cluster of cottages in which she now lives, and move those residents into her cottage. Meagher says DMR needs to move her out to make way for the residents from the other cottage.
Meagher said she had heard that the woman did not want to leave Fernald, so she decided to see for herself. On January 25, Meagher visted her in her living room. Meagher said three direct-care workers were seated nearby and heard the entire conversation.
Meagher said that in response to her questions, the woman said she liked living at Fernald; that she had been there a long time; that she had her own bedroom there; and that she liked going out on field trips with staff in a van. Then Meagher asked her about the new group home in Bedford to which she had recently been taken for a visit. Did she like the house, Meagher asked. Yes, she replied, it was “very pretty.” Did she want to move there? No, she replied. Meagher said she asked the questions several times and got the same answers each time. As far as Meagher was concerned, there could be no mistake in understanding her preference.
“Whenever I asked about whether she wanted to move away from Fernald, she said no,” Meagher said.
Meagher maintained that DMR's insistence on moving the woman out of Fernald “is a clear indication of how desperate this administration is to get the closure process moving even though Judge Tauro has said Fernald must remain open.” Meagher believes that DMR has run into so much opposition to the closure of Fernald from the families and guardians of its current residents that it has had to resort to moving out people such as the 91-year-old woman, who are represented by corporate guardians. “This just shows the lengths to which they are willing to go,” she said.
until it’s all about the money!
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p>Yes, the “progressive one” is also doing this in his budget built on sand:
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p>There are cuts in four major areas, due to mandated salary increases, inflation, and cuts to line items:
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p>5930-1000 DMR State Facilities – cut by $1.5 million – a cut that could result in the reduction of approximately 40 positions from either attrition or layoffs.
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p>5920-2010 The State-Operated Community Residential Account – cut by $400,000 – a cut equivalent to one house or five beds. Again – no determination on how the cut will be managed.
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p>5920-2000 The Provider Community Residential Account – cut by $543,887.00 – a cut that is the equivalent of twenty residential beds. How this cut will be managed is not yet determined.
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p>5920-5000 Turning 22 Budget – cut by $1.6 million – possible result will be six month wait for day services (or any services) after a young person turns 22 and enters the DMR adult system.
I don’t think that Fernald should be closed, and a 91-year-old woman who’s been there for 50 years and is in familiar surroundings, where her friends and caretakers are, and, especially one who has the facilities to speak her mind and state her preferences, should not be uprooted from her familiar surroundings. Leave the woman be!!
Like an abused child, it would appear that her legal guardian may not be acting in her best interest.
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p>So sad on so many levels….my hair is turning white, and I think more and more about Eskimos and ice floes when I hear a story like this and wonder about myself in 30 years.
This:
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p>definitely gets to the heart of the matter.
How can anyone possibly believe that moving a 91 year old mentally retarded person from their home of 50 years is the right thing to do or in the individual’s best interest? I don’t think it is a coincidence that this person just happens to have a GBARC guardian. It makes me wonder if the guardian even knows this person. A GBARC guardian is a paid guardian. It INCREDIBLY OBVIOUS to me the guardian’s interest is clearly on his paycheck NOT this individual’s health, safety, or quality of life.
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p>Its just another example that the administration will stop at nothing to get their hands on this prime piece of real estate in Waltham.
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p>It is unfortunate there is no real media coverage of these events. If this small group had some other politically correct minority status in addition to being severely and profoundly mentally retarded and the public knew they were being forceably relocated from their home of 50+ years despite their health and safety and lets not forget a federal court order it would be front page headlines surrounded by a media frenzy.
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p>I believe ordinary people (those with souls) would be as outraged as I am by this administration’s treatment of this group of individuals.
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there has been so little substantive media coverage of this issue. That’s why we’ve turned first to BMG to get the word out on this. It would be nice to see more comments like yours from BMG readers, letting DMR know that what they are doing in this case is wrong. I’m sure they read this site and take the posts and comments on it into account.
“This is not a game- these people are very vulnerable and very fragile, Let’s make sure they go where they want to go.” Words spoken by Judge Tauro in open Court on March 7, 2007. Judge Tauro’s words are very clear. It also has been made very clear by the resident living in Fernald that she wants to stay in her home of over fifty years…so why is her legal guardian ignoring her wishes? This GBARC guardian has been only representing this resident for a few months! Has she truley investigated what her ward wants. This is truley a travesty of her human rights to live her life in her home of so many years. Fernald will be standing on Waltham soil long after this resident!
Judge Tauro has been judge longer than the 91-year-old woman’s legal guardian of several months. Let Judge Tauro’s ruling stand, I say!