A South Side children’s treatment center is transferring all patients out of the facility amid allegations of staff abuse and unsanitary conditions.
A long-term investigation from a disability watchdog prompted state officials to move patients out of the Heritage of Hannah Neil facility. Disability Rights Ohio began looking into the treatment center after reports of staffers pushing, kicking and choking patients.
"What we uncovered was that, starting with those first incidents and videos, were kids being grabbed by the neck forcibly kept in their rooms, pushed, other types of abusive behavior, and indications that this was a cultural pervasive problem," says assistant executive director Kerstin Sjoberg.
Disability Rights Ohio is what’s known as a "Protection and Advocacy System"—a state-level non-profit with broad authority to inspect facilities offering services for people with disabilities. Congress established the program in the 1970s, helping fund the independent oversight groups in each state and territory.
Once the group confirmed the original reports, Sjoberg says they requested video from seven days chosen at random in April and May.
“We reviewed those seven days’ worth of video and uncovered at least 24 unreported incidents of that type of abusive or neglectful behavior,” she says.
And she describes a litany of violations in addition to staffers directly abusing their patients.
"Instigating or encouraging kids to fight with each other, not intervening when they are fighting each other and really just a total lack of any kind of structure or therapeutic programming for the kids that are supposed to be there for that purpose," Sjoberg says.
In an emailed statement, an Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services spokesperson explains the staff began discharging patients from the 40-bed facility late last week, and they’ll continue monitoring patients’ progress.
Although the children are being moved, Sjoberg is concerned state officials haven’t taken official action to suspend or revoke The Heritage of Hannah Neil’s license.
Here's the full statement from Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services:
We take the health and safety of those served through facilities we license very seriously. As soon as we became aware of a potential health and safety risk to the children, we began working with Hannah Neil leadership to address the situation. We then notified all county child protective agencies with children placed with Hannah Neil so they could begin finding alternative placements. In addition, the families of two children who were not in the custody of a child protective service agency were also contacted. Late last week, under our direction, the operators began discharging all remaining patients to appropriate facilities and we continue to closely monitor their progress as they address remaining issues.