Oakwood worker accused of abuse
Employee is 16th to face charges
An employee at Communities at Oakwood has been indicted on a
charge of abuse of an adult for allegedly striking a resident at
Kentucky's largest facility for adults with mental retardation.
Darrin McCutchen, 21, of
Monticello, was indicted Wednesday on the felony charge by a Pulaski
County grand jury; he is accused of striking resident Tim Cox on
July 15.
McCutchen is the 16th worker charged
with mistreating residents at the Somerset facility and the fifth to
be charged with an assault on Cox.
Four workers have been indicted on
abuse charges stemming from a separate incident in May in which Cox
was beaten and his nose was broken, according to a state
investigation of the incident.
McCutchen, who is on administrative
leave from Oakwood, declined to comment yesterday on the charge
against him.
But he said workers are
increasingly frustrated and tired by the long workdays, short
staffing and lack of support from upper management.
He described the job as one of
"long hours, not being able to defend yourself and not being able to
get the right help when you need it."
Daniel Dermitt, Cox's brother and
guardian, agrees Oakwood needs better management but said workers
who mistreat residents need to be held accountable.
"It's unfortunate that it's
necessary to repeatedly indict people," he said.
But Dermitt said he's heartened by
the pending takeover of Oakwood by the Bluegrass Regional Mental
Health-Mental Retardation Board, a Lexington-based nonprofit agency.
The state recently hired Bluegrass
to manage Oakwood, starting Nov. 1, as part of an effort to persuade
federal authorities not to cut off Medicaid funds that pay $43
million of the $62 million cost of running Oakwood.
Federal authorities, citing ongoing
problems, recently renewed threats to cut off the funds, which would
force Oakwood to close. About 250 people live at the facility.
Oakwood has been cited 24 times in
the past 21 months for serious violations that threaten residents'
health or safety. Cox was the subject of two of those Type A
citations issued by the inspector general of the Cabinet for Health
and Family Services, which operates Oakwood.
Bluegrass President Joseph A. Toy
has said he hopes to put an end to such citations by focusing on how
to better care for a handful of people who have been the subject of
repeated citations or abuse allegations.
Dermitt said he likes Toy's
approach.
"I'm cautiously optimistic," he
said. "They're still going to have to prove themselves to me."
Reporter Deborah Yetter can be
reached at (502) 582-4228.
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