No Adult Autism Centre & Network in NB Where Politics Trumps Health & Well Being - Part I

Campbellton-Dalhouse MLA Donald Arseneault, shown in the CBC photo above, and his political influence in the NB Liberal Party, was fingered by his former Liberal party colleagues Bernard Richard and Michael Murphy as the the force behind the Liberal government's decision to build a complex needs youth facility in Campbellton, far from most families in the province, particularly those in Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton.  It is my own personal belief that Arseneault is behind the refusal of the Liberal government to establish an adult autism centre in Fredericton the home of NB autism expertise and close to many families in NB unlike Campbellton-Dalhouse, where severely autistic adults are sent to live their lives far from families in a location on NB's Northern Border. 

Campbellton sits on NB's northern border in the riding of Liberal cabinet minister Donald Arseneault. Adults with severe autism and related conditions will, because of Arseneault's influence, be sent to live in the Regional Psychiatric Hospital in Campbellton far from most families in the south and far from the autism expertise developed in Fredericton. 

Former Liberal cabinet colleague Michael Murphy pulled no punches in identifying Arseneault as the source of the bad decision to place the youth centre in Arsenault's riding:

"As a former minister of health I can tell you how hard it is to get specialists to go to our urban centres versus Toronto — let alone Campbellton," wrote Murphy in one of a series of tweets that suggested the Gallant government was putting "politics first, kids second" with the decision. ....  Murphy blamed the decision on Liberal party politics and pointed to his former cabinet colleague Donald Arseneault as the likely source of the decision. Arseneault is the current minister of energy and mines and represents the riding of Campbellton-Dalhousie in the legislature. Arseneault made the actual announcement in Campbellton on Saturday, rather than Health Minister Victor Boudreau. "Power of Donald Arseneault is evident by this," tweeted Murphy. "The location away from family for most young patients may only aggravate the condition.  But this government is intensely political."

Michael Murphy Q.C., former Minister of Health,  in "Bernard Richard slams choice of location for youth facility Putting mental health unit in Campbellton is 'worst' decision former youth advocate has seen in a while"

I added for emphasis the last section of the Murphy comments where he spoke a plain truth long stated by autism parent advocates on behalf of our autistic adult children ... Campbellton is a location far from family and from the internationally recognized autism expertise developed in Fredericton yet the Liberal government, instead of establishing the proposal for an autism centre in Fredericton as the centre for a network of autism specific homes around the province and near families, the government shovels our severely autistic adults into Arseneault's Campbellton riding Pyschiatric Hospital far from the families who are so important for their health and well being. 

In New Brunswick we became a Canadian leader in the delivery of early autism intervention services. We also made substantial progress in provision of autism training for education aides and resource teachers. Parent advocacy played a very significant role in both of those achievements as well as in pushing successfully to have the government reverse its decision to close the Stan Cassidy Centre autism team which provides consultation for autistic children and youth to age 16.  

In adult autism care despite our successes in early intervention and despite a well considered proposal by NB autism expert Paul McDonnell we have made no progress in establishing an adult autism centre in Fredericton where we have developed autism expertise as the basis for a network of autism specific group homes clearly advocated publicly by Professor Emeritus, Clinical Psychologist and autism expert McDonnell in a 2010 interview with CBC's Dan McHardie: 

"Our greatest need at present is to develop services for adolescents and adults," McDonnell writes.

"What is needed is a range of residential and non-residential services and these services need to be staffed with behaviourally trained supervisors and therapists."

...

"In the past we have had the sad spectacle of individuals with autism being sent off to institutional settings such as the Campbellton psychiatric hospital, hospital wards, prisons, and even out of the country at enormous expense and without any gains to the individual, the family or the community

Among the reforms that the UNB professor is calling for is an enhanced group home system where homes would be connected to a major centre that would develop ongoing training and leadership.

The larger centre could also offer services for people who have mild conditions. But, he said, it could also be used to offer permanent residential care for individuals with more severe diagnoses.

"Such a secure centre would not be based on a traditional 'hospital' model but should, itself, be integrated into the community in a dynamic manner, possibly as part of a private residential development," he writes.

"The focus must be on education, positive living experiences and individualized curricula. The key to success is properly trained professionals and staff."

- Paul McDonnell, Professor Emeritus (Psychology), Clinical Psychologist, Autism Expert

Why have we made no progress towards establishing the adult autism centre-network proposed by McDonnell in 2010? ? The answer is simple - politics - specifically NB politics which has been proven to put political considerations ahead of the health and well being of vulnerable New Brunswickers.  Politics, specifically the political influence of  Campbellton-Dalhouse MLA Donald Arseneault trumps the health and well being of severely autistic adults like my son Conor.