I read with both interest and sadness the article on the lack of available care for Joshua Stewart (“Mom camps out to get spot in mental ward for son,” Jan. 27). Unfortunately, Joshua’s story is not unique. Many people living with autism or other developmental disabilities currently are unable to receive the crisis care they need throughout the state.
While Joshua is now in a state psychiatric facility, why did his family have to wait eight days? A bed at Broughton provides a solution, but a psychiatric hospital is not the best option for a child with autism. How can we improve our system of care so that needed crisis and community support services are available to all children like Joshua?
First, let’s take a look at the numbers. Joshua has autism, a developmental disability that occurs in 1 of every 110 children born today, according to the CDC (December 2009). Not all children with autism are the same and not all will need crisis services, but there are more than 9,000 children with a primary diagnosis of autism in the N.C. public schools, and the number grows each year. At the Autism Society of North Carolina, calls for crisis services have increased dramatically, and there are few options available to solve these crises. Children with other developmental disabilities also need crisis services, but with the recent budget cuts there is clearly not enough money to meet these needs.
Studies have shown that with appropriate community and crisis supports, children with autism can avoid institutionalization. Also, taxpayers pay significantly less when children are able to remain in their communities. The comments by Dr. Michael Lancaster (state chief of Clinical Policy) about the desire for the state to be able to support Joshua through a local crisis center and community settings reflect that the state does understand these facts. The state initiated a program to provide crisis services for adults with developmental disabilities called START (Systemic Treatment Response Assessment Team). Unfortunately, there is not a comparable program for children.
North Carolina has excellent clinically intensive support programs for people with autism in specialized programs at the Murdoch Center in Butner. However, those programs lack the capacity to serve crisis needs. And with recent significant cuts to community services, local respite options such as respite care or group homes are limited.
Children like Joshua will continue to need crisis and support services. As a state, we must decide that providing appropriate options for care is a priority and make sure that there are funds available to provide these services.
Currently, there is no safety net for children with autism or other developmental disabilities like the START program. The state must commit to establishing community-based crisis services for children with autism and other developmental disabilities. In the meantime, one short-term option for situations like Joshua’s could be to increase the capacity for crisis services for children with autism at the Murdoch Center, which has proven to be a clinically effective model. For a child like Joshua, the Murdoch program is a much better option than a psychiatric facility.
Imagine if you took your child, grandchild or family member into the doctor and had to wait eight days before receiving help. How would you feel? I think we know the answer. That is why all North Carolinians must work together to fix our system of care and ensure that this does not happen again.
Scott Badesch
Raleigh
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This letter is in response to your online story “Mom camps out to get spot in the mental ward for son.” We need to start putting more money into North Carolina’s mental health system. People like Joshua and his mom need more help than the little they are getting. Waiting eight days for a bed in a mental health hospital is awful. This is a big problem the state needs to fix whatever the cost, so that people with disabilities can get the help they need when they need it.
Joshua’s mother can’t take care of him by herself; after all she’s not superwoman. She needs help.
Corey Pahel-Short
Chapel Hill
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I read with sadness and horror about the treatment that 13-year old Joshua Stewart, an autistic boy, received from our mental health system. How can we allow such treatment for an autistic child in this day and time? Have we reverted to the 19th century with respect to the way we care for our disabled children? As a mother, my heart goes out to Ms. Mabry as she struggles to help her child.
To Gov. Bev Perdue and the N.C. General Assembly: Find a way to help Joshua and other children like him. As a caring society, we have a duty to assist the Joshua Stewarts in our state.
Fern Gunn Simeon
Durham
Comments
in the same boat
Fri, 02/05/2010 - 23:10 — lynn1nick2We are in the same boat as Josha's family!
Something must be done. The mental health care system is extremely floored. What's a family to do? Joshua’s mom is in need of help, someone needs to help. We do need to take care of our own children in this country, state, county, town,etc. Having children with this rehabilitating disability is difficult on the families in which most people (unless you are in their shoes) understand. It affects the siblings, marriages, etc. Budget cuts for this type of situation are unthinkable. Wise up folks, Autism is an epidemic in mass portions. Help is needed especially with the children that are ages 13-18. There seems to be a good amount of early intervention but not for the teenage population. Our children are in turmoil. Something must be done!!
Joshua's story
Fri, 01/29/2010 - 11:58 — wreece9My 15 year old son has Asperger's Syndrome and has recently been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. We took him to the hospital ER at UNC on this past Monday, Jan. 25, 2010. He had vomiting and diarrhea and received IV fluids and medication in the Peds ER and then was transferred to the Adult Psych Lockdown unit in the ER to await placement in an Adolescent Psych Unit. We have now spent 4 nights in the rubber room. He has not seen the light of day since admission and has not left this area except for a daily shower, which I have had to request. He continued to vomit and have diarrhea for the first couple of days, and does not even have his own bathroom. He ended up vomiting in the middle of the hallway. We never know who will be admitted, and we have shared this area with people my son should never have been exposed to. I am told there is not a separate Peds psych ER, and he could not be given a regular Peds bed, despite the vomiting and diarrhea, and despite the fact that we make sure that either my husband or myself are there in or near the unit with him since placement. He has been out of school much of January, and is not receiving any therapy while he lays on the stretcher in the small room with only a T.V. for company. I have had to request meals for him, change his sheets, and have asked that the floor be cleaned as it is filthy-and I am still waiting for that to be done. We have been subjected to profanity and having to listen to other patient's sad stories as we sit and wait for a bed. I beg that the state do something to help our children and adolescents with mental illness get the appropriate help they need! I certainly sympathize with Joshua and his mother, as my son and I are experiencing the same plight as they have. Wendy Reece Durham, N.C.