Keep Fernald Open, And Others Will Pay

Boston Herald Editorial

June 5, 2007

The fate of 186 profoundly disabled adults living at the Fernald Development Center in Waltham should never boil down to dollars and cents alone. And yet we can’t overlook the fact that the enormous resources that are spent keeping this Victorian-era facility open could threaten the care of other mentally disabled residents of the commonwealth.

The Department of Mental Retardation said as much in a court filing last week, seeking to block a proposed federal order that would require the state to keep Fernald open - indefinitely.

Indeed, the Patrick administration is demonstrating wisdom in continuing the effort to transfer longtime Fernald residents into community-based settings - an effort that began under former Gov. Mitt Romney.

Forty-nine Fernald residents were voluntarily transferred into community-based settings before a complaint was filed in federal court in 2005. U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro temporarily blocked further transfers, and asked U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan to investigate whether those people were receiving “equal or better” care in their new homes.

Sullivan concluded the safety and well-being of those transferred had not been violated - that indeed, they were receiving equal or better care. Still, he urged that the institution be kept open.

Sullivan’s reasons are humane and understandable. He shares the concern of some residents’ families that the fragile Fernald population - some of whom suffered the mistreatment that characterized the darkest days of this facility’s history - will be traumatized by a transfer out of the only home they have ever known.

But the Department of Mental Retardation makes a clear and convincing case that Fernald residents will benefit as thousands of others have by moving into group homes, smaller state facilities or other community-based settings.

To keep Fernald open on a hunch that the residents won’t thrive elsewhere contradicts 30 years of experience in moving the mentally disabled out of institutional settings, DMR notes.

And finally, yes, there is the dollars and cents argument. It costs the commonwealth $259,000 per person annually to care for residents at Fernald. In community-based settings, the cost is $102,103. That adds up to millions each year that is not being spent on other community-based programs for the disabled.