 
|
|||||||||
              
|
Western Center families buoyed by Polk ruling
Friday, April 14, 2000 By Lawrence Walsh, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
In a decision hailed by families opposed to the closing of Western Center, a Venango County judge has ruled that the state Department of Public Welfare must hold a hearing before transferring a mentally retarded Polk Center resident to a community group home against her family's wishes.
Common Pleas President Judge H. William White issued the decision yesterday in a case involving Ruth Easly. Easly, 72, a native of Hastings, Cambria County, was 14 when she was admitted to Polk Center in 1942.
"We're reviewing the decision to determine how it can be applied to our case," said Dan Torisky, president of Western Center's board of trustees.
"We want to see if it can be used to force the welfare department to return Western Center residents who have been sent to group homes against their wishes or the wishes of their families, or to compel the department to establish an intensive care facility for the mentally retarded in southwestern Pennsylvania," he said.
Welfare department spokesman Jay Pagni couldn't be reached for comment.
The department moved 44 mentally retarded residents out of Western Center Wednesday in preparation for closing the institution April 28. Parents and other relatives of the residents protested the move, saying their loved ones would not fare as well in community-based group homes.
Last-minute legal attempts to block the moves failed. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused Tuesday to issue an emergency order to halt the transfers.
In the Venango case, the judge said Easly suffered a "mechanical injury" at birth that left her profoundly retarded. She has an IQ of 14, the mental age of a 25-month-old, the communication skills of a 22-month-old and the daily living skills of a 32-month-old.
White described Easly as "very small in stature, very unassuming and a very quiet person." He said she can walk and talk to some degree. She enjoys her doll collection, watching television and going to church.
When state officials at Polk Center started planning in 1998 to send Easly to the Cambrian Hills Center in Portage, Cambria County, her family objected. A nephew, Steve Dvorchak of Monroeville, asked for and was granted the right to be her guardian.
After a three-week visit to the Cambrian Hills Center last year, welfare officials returned Easly to Polk for a short time and then, over her family's vehement objections,sent her back to Cambrian Hills. They returned her to Polk May 18 after Dvorchak threatened litigation.
Dvorchak and his attorney, Michael Pribanic, said the welfare department is required to hold a hearing before transferring someone from a facility such as Polk Center to a community facility.
The judge assumed jurisdiction in June, held two days of trial in late August and visited Easly at the Polk Center a few days later.
The welfare department argued that a disabled individual is the only person who can oppose community placement.
The judge's 39-page ruling said Polk Center is better equipped to handle residents such as Easly because, among other things, it has staff physicians and nurses that community homes such as Cambrian Hills lack.
He also cited Torisky's testimony that the average direct caregiver in a group home is paid about $6.31 an hour and has minimal training, while the average caregiver at Polk Center is paid about $12 an hour and has undergone exhaustive background checks and training.
White ruled that Easly "is better provided for at Polk Center" and having her remain there "is in her best interests and is not discriminatory."
"Furthermore, we find that moving Ruth Easly from Polk Center to Cambrian Hills over the rational, well-founded objections of her family and her legal guardian was tantamount to moving her to Cambrian Hills over her objection."
|
||||||||
