According to the Record, New Jersey officials have logged hundreds of 911 calls from homes owned by Bellwether. During early research, Echo found that in the old days, when the News Journal published fire calls, the Gingerbread House often had dozens if not more during the week. Why? Why did a facility staffed by people supposedly trained to care for the most severely disabled need to call 911 so often?
Ringwood New Jersey Police Chief, Joseph Walker, explained in the Record expose that his office receives 911 calls from the four Bellwether homes in its jurisdiction at least four times per week. The most frequent request is for officers to restrain clients. Walker urged officials for the residences to hire more experienced staff that could assist his officers.
This is the dilemma faced by police agencies responding to these 911 calls: HIPAA prevents first responders from knowing the diagnosis of the resident in crisis. Thus, responders enter the home without critical information that could inform how they deal with a particular client. Walker believes that better trained staffed would be an asset to his force when responding to these calls.From January 2017 to March 2019, 10 homes and one day program in New Jersey made more than 360 911 calls according to NorthJersey.com and USA today. The Longhouse Dr. residence accounted for approximately 100 of those crisis calls. Often, police were informed first by concerned resident before the Bellwether facility responsible for that client contacted the police. On at least one instance, a helicopter search had to be performed in order to located a lost client.
Other police reports accuse Bellwether employees of speeding, being on drugs or alcohol while on
the job and possession of illegal substances. NorthJersey.com also found one incident in which a resident was left for 45 minutes on a van on day with temps that met or exceeded 93 degrees.
What concerns officers like Ringwood's Walker is that the townships rely on volunteers to staff their fire houses and ambulances. Some only have one ambulance. The Bellwether calls are burden that can be addressed without outside intervention if basic security measures were installed in homes and staff were properly trained.
But, Bellwether's lack of effort provides little hope to local departments.
And it reinforces a pattern started first in Delaware decades ago. Understaffed? Undertrained? Call 911. It's far cheaper for a care provider to call 911 than to train and staff facilities in a manner that ensures clients receive the proper and most appropriate interventions when needed.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Word Verification May Be Case Sensitive