Improvements made to BSDC

This was written on Feb. 10 from the Lincoln Journal Star.

It was interesting to see how much progress the staff and leaders of the facility are making, but there is room for a lot of improvements. The U.S. District Court hired John McGee of Omaha to monitor a settlement between the state and the Department of Justice to resolve civil rights issues.

I liked McGee's comment regarding the moving of clients over the past year:


“This is a harsh practice that can result in people with significant disabilities being moved from the only home many of them have ever known to live and die among strangers who do not understand their limited communication skills or care needs,” he wrote. “It slams shut the door of hope to individuals who could be supported in more intimate and personalized community homes.”

I also like how he said that when moving the clients that they must think of the safety of the public. There have been cases of patients with sexual assault charges. Last year, a patient had walked off of campus when there was only 1 staff member watching 16 people. He was found about a mile away from campus in a resident's home. She called the police and they safely returned him. There was no harm done to either the resident or patient. I remember that, it was a little spooky because most people in my neighborhood don't lock their doors, and this could happen to anybody.

This will be great support to my arguement that the facility needs to stay open despite it's set backs for the sake of the patients. A rough draft is in the works...