Psych hospital closes teen unit
during construction
By Melissa McGrath
Idaho Statesman
December 13, 2006
Additional articles:
Psych facility for teens shuts down (click
here)
Judge struggles to find spot for troubled teen
(click
here)
 A
private psychiatric hospital in Boise threatened with the loss of
its state license to treat adolescents said Tuesday that it will
close that portion of the hospital providing residential treatment
for teens until the hospital completes an expansion. Intermountain
Hospital, 303 N. Allumbaugh St., has been told by the state to
correct problems with the teen program by February or face loss of
the program's license.
The residential program for teens
has had problems with patient abuse and overuse of physical and
chemical restraints, among other problems, a state Health and
Welfare Department spokesman said. The rest of the hospital has not
had any major problems, the spokesman said.
Intermountain's Chief Executive
Officer Rick Bangert said the teen program, which has 16 patients,
is closing because of the hospital's ongoing construction. He plans
to reopen the program in 2007 after completing the expansion, which
will add nearly 90 beds to the 127 there now.
"During that period of time, we
will complete construction,we will bring some people together that
run residential programs, and we're going to look at how to put
together the very best (program)," Bangert said. "When we're ready
to reopen, we'll have the very best."
The residential treatment program
is designed for children ages 12-18 with serious behavioral problems
who need care for from two to 12 months. The rest of the psychiatric
hospital treats both adults and adolescents and is licensed
separately.
Ross Mason, a spokesman for Health
and Welfare, said the residential program was given a provisional
license in August. The state gave Intermountain six months to
correct its problems or face the loss of the license, Mason said.
The state learned of
Intermountain's problems in July when Boise police responded to a
patient riot in the residential treatment unit, Mason said.
Intermountain also has had problems with the excessive use of
physical and chemical restraints and with patient abuse, Mason said.
Heather Evers of Bellingham, Wash.,
is transferring her 14-year-old daughter from Intermountain to a
hospital in Nevada later this week. Evers said she probably would
have transferred her daughter from Intermountain even if the
residential program wasn't closing. Evers said her daughter sneaked
out of her room multiple times in the last month and once took the
wrong medication.
Still, she feels for the other
children who have to be transferred in the next two weeks.
"The biggest heartache for the
children is the break in their continuity of care," Evers said.
Bangert said about 10 of the 16
patients in the program right now will have completed their
treatment by Christmas. Intermountain will help transfer the
remaining six patients to other psychiatric programs.
Most of the patients are not from
Idaho.
Intermountain sent the state a
letter Tuesday, saying that it planned to close the program Dec. 29
but that it would reapply for a license next year.
Psychiatric Solutions Inc., a
company that operates more than 50 psychiatric facilities
nationwide, bought Intermountain Hospital in 2005. The company broke
ground in April on its construction project.
Contact reporter Melissa McGrath at
mmcgrath@idahostatesman.com or 377-6439.
______________
Judge struggles to find spot for
troubled teen
By Paula McCooey
The Ottawa Citizen
December 13, 2006
A teen who was ordered to undergo a psychiatric assessment last week
will appear in court again Wednesday to determine where the
16-year-old will be placed. Last Friday Ontario Court Justice Dianne
Nicholas expressed dismay that a residential treatment centre for
young offenders still does not exist within 100 kilometres of
Ottawa.
"You cannot use jail as a substitute for a drug treatment facility,"
said Judge Nicholas. "You are not supposed to use incarceration to
protect them from themselves." She said she is deeply concerned
about the crack-addicted teen, and believes the girl is
deteriorating without the proper care she needs. Because the city is
not equipped with a treatment centre for young offenders, the youth
was forced to stay at an Ottawa group home after she was arrested on
Dec. 1, and is now facing charges of assault, fraud and breach of
probation.
While there is a residential treatment program for youths near
Carleton Place, there is no residential treatment centre in this
area of Eastern Ontario for youths with psychiatric and drug and
alcohol problems who are facing criminal charges. The focus of last
week’s appearance was initially her drug problem, but that shifted
when the girl threatened to kill herself if she was sent back to the
open custody group home.
______________________
Psych facility for teens shuts
down
"They found a number of issues,
excessive physical and chemical restraint, peer on peer
assaults, staff abuse, assaults of another nature, improper
treatment plans, a lot of things, a number of serious issues,”
says Mason.
December 12, 2006
Sean Christensen/KTVB Wing Unit
16 patients at Intermountain
Residential Treatment Center will have to be moved to another
facility that services teens with mental and behavioral issues.
BOISE - A Boise treatment facility,
which calls itself a "center for teens in crisis", is unexpectedly
closing its doors.
Sixteen patients at Intermountain
Residential Treatment Center will have to be moved to another
facility that services teens with mental and behavioral issues.
The treatment facility has been
given until February to fix a number of problems found by Health and
Welfare or lose its license, but we found out the center has already
decided to close.
One mother we talked to says the
center is not a safe place for kids.
"Its been devastating as a mother,
for our family, for Kassandra more than anything that's the main
concern the pain and suffering she's been going through since she
was six years old,” says Heather Evers, mom of patient.
Heather Evers is talking about her
daughter Kassendra. A 14-year old Washington girl who was once
abused by a family friend while on vacation away from home.
From that she suffers emotionally
and is a danger to herself.
So to get psychiatric help her
family sent her to the Intermountain Residential Treatment Center in
Boise.
The teen has been there for a month
-- but will be leaving at the end of the week.
"We got a call Friday that they are
shutting down the RTC program and that all patients are to be
transferred in the next three weeks,” says Evers.
Evers says the closure is a
surprise. But recently she found out the facility is operating on
only a provisional license -- with the threat of losing it
altogether.
"The treatment center had a riot
situation back in July of this year which we responded to after
complaints, after police had arrived and we accessed the situation
of the treatment center and determined there were many deficiency
that needed to be corrected,” said Ross Mason, Dept. of Health and
Welfare.
So Intermountain Treatment Center
was put on a provisional license -- and given from July of this year
to February of next year to make the necessary changes.
"They found a number of issues,
excessive physical and chemical restraint, peer on peer assaults,
staff abuse, assaults of another nature, improper treatment plans, a
lot of things, a number of serious issues,” says Mason.
We talked to the facility's CEO,
Richard Bangert, and when asked about the issues he said there was
no comment.
Bangert sent a letter to Health and
Welfare Tuesday morning, saying the center was closing to
re-engineer programs and complete a remodeling project.
It also said it was imperative to
interrupt services no later than December of this year.
"They are serious problems, they
are serious no question about it and the facility will need to fix
those."
There are 16 juveniles, between the
ages of 12 and 18 that live at the treatment center. Health and
Welfare says their problems range from assaults to aggressiveness,
eating disorders, and drug use.
Psychiatric Solutions Inc. owns
Intermountain Residential Treatment Center, along with 72 other
facilities around the nation.
This closure only affects the
treatment center and has nothing to do with intermountain hospital.
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