Gullixson: A heartless and reckless closure plan

As I listen to the stories of those with loved ones among the 400 or so residents remaining at the soon-to-be-shuttered Sonoma Developmental Center, I keep coming back to one thought: What's the rush?

Why is the state in such a hurry to close the Eldridge facility without a clear idea of where these people are going to go and, more important, whether they will receive the kind of intricate care they need once they get there?

(If you haven't as yet, read today's front page story by Meg McConahey. It's a look inside the lives of families that made the difficult decision long ago to move their children to the Eldridge facility and now find themselves left in the lurch about what they're going to do with these loved ones with very special needs. It's a powerful piece of reporting and storytelling.)

The distressing truth is that government often moves with glacial speed when it comes to approving projects that call for the displacement of endangered species. Building on land that may contain tiger salamanders or owls requires years of study and potentially millions in mitigation costs.

Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a 50-year recovery plan for endangered species in the Santa Rosa Plain, a plan that calls for the purchase of thousands of acres of habitat for the tiger salamander as well as such endangered plants as Sonoma sunshine, Burke's goldfields and Sebastopol meadowfoam. The estimated cost, including more studies: $436 million.

But when it comes to the displacement of profoundly developmentally disabled individuals — people who, in many cases, have limited speech and are in no position to care for themselves — the state seems capable of moving with remarkable velocity. Heartless velocity.

As it stands, the state Department of Developmental Services may present a final plan to the state Legislature as soon as Thursday, a plan that calls for closure of the Sonoma Developmental Center by no later than 2018. The residents, most likely, would be moved long before that, however. Where they would go specifically, however, is a mystery.

The reason for the closure is clear — money. The state will save lots of it.

It also comes at a time when the idea of institutionalized care of the severely disabled has fallen out of favor. Isn't it better to house these residents in small, neighborhood-based facilities that allow them a semblance of normal life?

It sounds good in theory, as was the idea long ago of closing the state mental hospitals. That was the result of a changing public perception of such institutions fueled by books like Ken Kesey's 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.' After reading that, who was going to come to the defense of a system of care with Nurse Ratched at the helm?

But in that case, deinstitutionalization didn't work out so well. The state dropped the ball in making sure those mentally ill individuals had a place to go. As a result, many ended up on the street, compounding a homelessness problem that cities throughout California have been trying to confront ever since.

Now, it seems the state may be making the same mistake with the developmentally disabled.

'Why are we putting these people out in the community where we clearly have under-funded and stressed conditions?' asked Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin during a meeting with The Press Democrat Editorial Board last week.

Granted, this is not new. The state has been slowly transitioning residents out of developmental centers and shutting them down for a while. At one time, the Eldridge facility had some 3,200 residents.

There's also no question that, for many, moving to a smaller, residential facility was the best outcome.

One problem is we really don't know for sure. The state has not done a very good job of tracking how well these former residents of development centers have done out in the community.

Furthermore, the families of those still at Sonoma Developmental Center have particular reason to be concerned because their family members have the most severe of disabilities, ones that the staffs of residential programs are least likely to be equipped to handle.

Some of these residents, for example, have extreme behavioral issues. 'What are they going to do with (these) people when the homes can't handle them?' asks Kathleen Miller, whose son, Danny, has been a resident of the facility for 15 years.

There's also legitimate concern about what kind of medical care they are going to receive from community-based health care systems that lack the specialized care at the development center. Former Santa Rosa City Attorney Brien Farrell says his sister Susan, a resident there for 57 years, has a number of disabilities including being averse to touch. It took one physician at Eldridge six years before she allowed him to examine her. 'That's how long it took to develop trust,' he said.

But in the arena of an HMO-based health care system, where time with patients is a premium and turnover is high, there's little time to develop such trust.

Moreover, many operators of residential centers themselves acknowledge that they lack the resources to handle their current loads, let alone new residents.

As noted in McConahey's story, a report earlier this year by the Association of Regional Centers noted that years of underfunding has left the systems of community-based services for developmentally disabled 'on the brink of collapse.'

'We are now being evicted and thrown in that mess,' Farrell said.

And given the high housing costs in the North Coast, it's not clear how and where new residential programs will opened in the North Bay. As a result, some residents may end up as far away as Fairfield.

State officials say they will address these problems later. But what will be their motivation to do so after the fact?

More important, whatever happened to that simple idea that the measure of a civilized community is how it cares for its weakest members?

If only these residents were as important as meadowfoam.

Paul Gullixson is editorial director of The Press Democrat. Email him at paul.gullixson@pressdemocrat.com.