by Jacob Richards
As soon as March, Building D at Westsprings Hospital in Grand Junction may be used to house unaccompanied minors from around the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention system.
ICE wants to immediately transfer six minors (four of these children are in New York, one is in California, and one in Texas,) to receive long-term care at Westsprings. These children are not currently in a mental health crisis but rather are needing long-term care.
In a recently leaked video of a meeting between, Nicholas Torres the CEO of Larkin Health Systems, which recently took over management of Mindsprings and their inpatient hospital Westsprings, and the leadership of Mindsprings, Torres contradicts the blanket denials made to the media and more ethically troublesome he contradicts the blanket denials Mindsprings has made to other service providers in the region.
“They are not actively harming themselves or trying to harm themselves so it does not need to be a full inpatient level of care but there has to be safeguards to prevent them from eloping or getting out,” said Torres.
The line between treatment and detention is being blurred. Are they free to leave? No. Are they in crisis? No. Are they going to be held long term? Yes, 170 days on average according to Torres.
Additionally, Torres says that the children would receive only one service provider meeting per week, which again speaks to detention rather than true treatment.
Why Westsprings? Why these six children? Are there no facilities capable of long-term care for children not in crisis closer to New York? Westsprings doesn’t even currently have any long-term inpatient ‘service-lines.’ What can they get here that they can’t get somewhere else? Nothing.
The Latino communities’ is fear is that it’s a Trojan horse, and a method for ICE increase its capacity to operate in western Colorado.
According to community leaders that have seen the leaked video but cannot comment publicly, they fear that Mindsprings’ cooperation with ICE will cause immigrants and Latinos to avoid the mental healthcare they need.
Larkin Health Systems has long worked with ICE especially in south Florida, providing mental health services to detainees at the South Florida Reception Center (prison). Between 2002 and 2017 Larkin brought in $47 million worth of federal contracts, to provide mental healthcare to ICE and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Torres frames the whole conversation with Mindsprings’ dire financial woes. ”The reimbursement is great,” he said and was clearly excited that ICE pays for all upgrades to the facility and pays for treatment upfront.
“We are trying to stabilize the system,” said Torres “And we are looking at some new potential ventures and service lines that could be pretty significant for the hospital.”
We will have more reporting on this important issue coming soon.
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What is the Federal patient Bill of Rights?
As a patient, you have the right to:
“Timely access to medical care. Be treated with dignity and respect by each MED health unit staff member. Medical care that is free from discrimination on the basis of age, sexual orientation, gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, language, disease, disability, or religion.”
This statement hangs in all Veterans Administration buildings.
Having said that, the age of these “minors” are crucial to know. The feds have the following statement for “emancipation.” “A minor must be at least 16 years of age to seek an order of emancipation from the court. The court will consider several factors, including the parents’ need for the minor’s earnings as well as the minor’s ability to accept adult responsibilities in determining the best interests of the minor.” (FindLaw.com)
If they are separated from their legal guardian, they cannot be sequestered against the betterment of their care and stability. Medical care dictates that care be “patient directed” so without legal action, being separated from their guardians does not separate them from the right their guardian has with a minor. Neither “Springs” is appropriate at this point of knowledge. Let Tom Aker know about this.
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