One of the state鈥檚 oldest residential treatment centers for people with mental illness could lose its federal funding on Tuesday. Timberlawn Mental Health System, a Pennsylvania-based chain that鈥檚 been in Dallas since 1917, is in trouble with regulators for violating patient care and safety.
Whether or not federal funding is pulled on Tuesday, kids are being sent to other psychiatric hospitals across North Texas.
In December 2014, 37-year-old Brittney Bennetts checked herself into . Two days later, she hanged herself on a doorknob.
鈥淭he records indicate that they had identified her as risk of suicide -- specifically by hanging,鈥� says Jessica Huseman. She's a freelance journalist for The Dallas Morning News. She spent months compiling data on Timberlawn and Bennetts' case.
Huseman that Timberlawn workers put Bennetts in a room with a doorknob that had previously been identified as 鈥渓igature risks,鈥� meaning the handles could be used by patients to hang themselves.
Despite having identified those the risk months before, Timberlawn didn't change the knobs and Bennetts hanged herself from a doorknob with a sheet.
A Failed Report Card
When officials with the U.S. Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, or CMS, started investigating Timberlawn, they uncovered more safety violations.
鈥淸Timberlawn had] also failed to check on other suicidal patients,鈥� Huseman says. 鈥淭here were some safety concerns in the hospital, generally exposed wiring, trash can liners that were left available to suicidal patients that could have easily been used for self-harm.鈥�
After multiple warnings and follow-up inspections, CMS gave the hospital a June deadline for improvements. The final check didn鈥檛 go well. CMS decided to pull millions in federal funding, which Huseman estimates makes up about one-third of Timberlawn鈥檚 $65 million patient revenue.
鈥淭o put this into perspective, this only happened to one other hospital in the last year and a half and there were 531 federally funded hospitals in the state of Texas," Huseman says.
Timberlawn's CEO wouldn鈥檛 talk with 四虎影院, but in a statement said that cutting federal funding would mean the 98-year-old hospital would have to close its doors:
Removing the 144 licensed mental health beds and the outpatient services that are currently available to the Dallas community at Timberlawn will 聽further strain the local mental health system already struggling to meet the needs of 聽patients. Timberlawn has served as the 鈥渇ront door鈥� to children and adolescents under the age of 18 who are brought in under an emergency detention initiated by a peace officer. This results in these young patients not being mixed with adults thus sheltering them in a safer environment and providing law enforcement with a consistent, known location to take adolescent patients who have a mental health issue and are suicidal or homicidal. The system currently is in crisis, even without school being in session, when the system gets taxed further.聽 The closure of the hospital would dramatically increase the pressure on the community and many seriously ill patients鈥攑articularly the youths and adolescents鈥攚ould not have access to necessary, proper and adequate treatment.聽
The Impact On North Texas Mental Health Services
Timberlawn has long been a home for kids with mental health issues in North Texas.
鈥淭hey are a big part of the public mental health system and the broader mental health system in Dallas,鈥� says Matt Roberts, president of Mental Health America of Greater Dallas. He says Timberlawn has also helped keep adolescents out of jail.
鈥淭hey tend to see a lot of public sector patients that are paid for by Medicare and Medicaid, the NorthStar program ... and they also see a lot of adolescent folks,鈥� he says.
And although Roberts is concerned about the violations, he says he hopes Timberlawn can get its act together.
Some parents who鈥檝e had their kids in treatment there have less sympathy.
Unhappy Parents
鈥淚 wish it would close down,鈥� Trina Karwasinski says. 鈥淚 would hope that these children could go somewhere else to be better taken care of.鈥�
Earlier this year, Karwasinski learned her daughter was cutting herself. Several of her friends also were cutting themselves.
鈥淭hey would get online at night and they would cut together,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t was a group thing.鈥�
After taking her daughter to a hospital in Rowlett, Kawasinki says a social worker evaluated her daughter and sent her to Timberlawn in Dallas, where she stayed for several nights. She is still upset by what she says she saw.
鈥淭he floor was filthy," she says. "When we went into the lobby the chairs smelled like human urine, I could see there was food rotting. I had to bring my daughter socks almost every time I went because her feet were so dirty.鈥�
Karwasinski鈥檚 complaints go beyond aesthetics. She claims her daughter had no privacy in the bathroom and was given medication without her consent. While 四虎影院 couldn't confirm this with Timberlawn, Huseman, the reporter, says she鈥檚 heard similar complaints from other parents.
鈥淥ne of the saddest things to come out of all of this," Huseman says, "is that the children of North Texas who are facing behavioral problems have really lost a stronghold. [Timberlawn is] the largest outlet for children鈥檚 behavioral health in this area.鈥�
And regardless of whether federal funding is pulled on Tuesday, kids are already being sent to other psychiatric hospitals -- from Glen Oaks in Greenville to Hickory Trail in DeSoto.
