New temporary employees assigned to ease deficits at Beatrice

The state Department of Health and Human Services moved Monday to ease problems at the Beatrice State Developmental Center by filling staff deficits with 25 temporary employees, and a plan for a total of 50 by the end of the month.

The goal of eliminating mandatory overtime would be accomplished with DHHS staff at other facilities, community providers and trained people from private staffing agencies, said John Wyvill, director of the department’s division of developmental disabilities.

The temporary employees will be on board until the end of May and could be extended to the end of June, Wyvill said. The 25 temporary staff that moved to the Beatrice facility on Monday came from other DHHS programs.

“We plan to eliminate mandatory overtime by the end of June,” he said.

Wyvill said the temporary staff will be trained to work effectively with clients with developmental disabilities. In addition to the mostly client care staff, Beatrice will get help from two additional lawyers and a doctor to help with reviews of medical providers to “make sure everything is going smoothly.”

The department had announced earlier that it is moving 100 more clients out of Beatrice and into community-based care by the end of the year, with an end goal of 200 residents remaining at Beatrice by Dec. 31. The department will ask the Legislature for authority to transfer existing funds so the money can follow each client into community-based care, Wyvill said.

“The federal government has made it very clear that community-based care is the way to go in terms of serving clients with developmental disabilities,” Wyvill said.

But Omaha Sen. Gwen Howard questioned whether there are adequate community services to accept 100 Beatrice clients.

DHHS got the results late last week of a Department of Justice investigation announced last May. The investigation, done in September and October, had similar findings to federal inspections by the Department of Medicare and Medicaid Services and a review by Nebraska Advocacy Services.

Jen Rae Hein, spokeswoman for Gov. Dave Heineman, said the governor authorized the five-point plan after a four-hour meeting on Saturday with CEO Chris Peterson, Wyvill and other staff members.

Omaha Sen. Tom White, who last week had voiced his concerns with other senators about the problems at the Beatrice center, wondered Monday afternoon why it has taken the department so long to act. He also questioned whether there are enough extra people to help out in Beatrice, and why the department has not used the tools given by the Legislature in the past to solve the problems.

Residents, he said, have been at risk for a long time and the center has long deserved adequate staffing.

“That is what is so deeply frustrating,” he said.

Jodi Fenner, with DHHS legal services, said the department has not ruled out the use of bonuses, authorized by the Legislature, to make sure the center is adequately staffed, but she believes the temporary staffing will solve the problem. Using bonuses for one agency and not statewide, or paying new employees more than existing employees, can cause negative results, she said.

The Justice Department’s investigation last year consisted of an on-site review including interviews with administrators, professionals, staff and residents, observation of residents and review of documents.

“We have concluded that numerous conditions and practices at BSDC violate the constitutional and federal statutory rights of its residents,” the report said.

In particular, the Justice Department found the Beatrice center failed to give residents adequate protection, training, behavioral and mental health services, health care, nutritional and physical services and to discharge them to the most appropriate settings.

At the time of the investigation, the report said, 175 residents had a behavior program that included some type of restriction or restraints. About half had been diagnosed with a mental illness, but all but a handful were being given one or more psychiatric drugs.

The report gave examples of mental, verbal and physical abuse and neglect, injuries and other problems with staff and residents. One incident included a game of “canine catch” in which the resident was instructed to fetch a pop bottle thrown across the room multiple times, even when it wasn’t thrown.

Many of the deficiencies were linked to the difficulties of staffing the center, the report said.

In addition to the five-point plan, the center will provide each client with appropriate activities so the use of restraints can be eliminated, Wyvill said. And a coordinator will be assigned to each client and guardian to provide a successful transition to community care.

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.