GROTON -- Anyone caring for Eric Voss must carefully
check the amount of fluid that goes into and comes out of his body
because a slightly elevated level of sodium can result in a brain
damage for the 28-year-old cerebral-palsy patient.
In fact, he spent four weeks in a coma at Children's Hospital Boston
from the sodium problem years ago, says his father, Frank Voss.
In the case of Janay Trabucco, 35, changes in room temperatures
can trigger a serious medical condition. When she moved from one
wing to another at Seven Hills at Groton, a nursing care facility
on Hillside Avenue, she stopped eating, causing her to become dehydrated
and hypothermic, says her mother, Fran Joncas.
So, what would happen to these and other fragile
patients at Seven Hills if they are evicted from the facility and
placed into group homes? It could be a death sentence, Voss says
of the state's order to do just that.
U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Lowell, says she understands
the families' anguish.
"I know how concerned you are, and I want to
be supportive," Tsongas told dozens of parents and guardians
during her visit to Seven Hills yesterday.
Tsongas toured Seven Hills to better understand
how the state's order to relocate the 31 patients at Seven Hills
to group homes will affect the patients and their families. The
state made the decision a year ago following a settlement in the
decade-old class-action lawsuit, Rolland v. Patrick, in which the
lawyers were trying to free a disabled Agawam woman, Loretta Rolland,
from a nursing home where the state had placed her.
The families and staff members at Seven Hills say
they never knew the suit was filed on behalf of 1,600 mentally retarded
and developmentally disabled people, including those at Seven Hills.
After deinstitutionalizing many of the 1,600 patients
by 2007, the state, under Gov. Deval Patrick's administration, reached
a new settlement in May 2008, promising to put another 600 people
or
more into community-based housing and care.The family
members appealed to the settlement, but the district court in Springfield
denied the appeal, according to Louis Putterman, whose daughter, Laura,
lives at Seven Hills. The families then appealed to the federal first
circuit court, and the judge has agreed to hear the case. The families
are now waiting for the case to move forward.
In the meantime, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has proposed
a bill, requiring plaintiffs of class-action lawsuits against a
care facility for mentally retarded people to notify all the residents
about it and let them elect whether to be part of the suit. Tsongas
is a co-sponsor of the bill.
Yesterday, Tsongas toured individual rooms equipped with oxygen
sensors and other state-of-the-art equipment designed to keep the
patients safe. State Rep. Robert Hargraves, R-Groton, state Sen.
Susan Tucker, D-Andover, and state Sen. Michael Moore, D-Worcester,
also attended.
Putterman said advocates for deinstitutionalization of mentally
retarded people and those who want to keep their loved ones at institutions
have been butting heads over the years nationwide. He believes the
31 Seven Hill residents are the latest casualties of that battle
and believes there needs to a law to protect their loved ones' right
to stay institutionalized. Putterman asked Tsongas to help raise
an awareness of the issue by reading what's happening at Seven Hills
into Congressional record.
While Tsongas did not directly respond to Putterman's request, she
reiterated her support for the residents. Tsongas noted that Frank's
bill would at least prevent similar problems from happening again.
The families of Seven Hill residents said they feel encouraged
by Tsongas' visit.
"They are interested enough to come and listen to us,"
Joncas said of the legislators.
Putterman said he fears that the state can come in and remove his
daughter at any time.
"The whole issue is horrendous," Joncas said. "I
wish I could wave a magic wand and make the issue go away."
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the story online at The Lowell Sun Website
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