The Autism Village - Satellite Mode (2008, 2015, 2019)

The New Brunswick Spectrum Village Satellite Model (2019) is available online. I was pleasantly surprised to see the paper online at the Autism Connections Fredericton's web site which is not generally an advocacy oriented organization especially for those on the severe end of the autism spectrum of disorders. 

 

The concept of the autism village was first suggested to government in 2008 by the Autism Society New Brunswick in a paper which I drafted: Residential Care for Autistic Youths and Adults in New Brunswick. It was spurred by the horrendous discovery that a NB  autistic youth had been kept in a youth correctional facility for a period of time because there was no appropriate location for the youth elsewhere. An ASNB survey conducted without government funding, or restrictions on how to conduct the survey, pointed out the need for evidence based, humane residential care and treatment for autistic adults.  It  has now been proven by the Ombud Failure to Protect Report that the Restigouche Hospital is NOT, and never was, an appropriate location for persons with autism to receive residential care and treatment.  No more excuses, stop trading adult autistic lives to the Rewstigouche for job for locals and political gain for politicians. Close the Resitigouche and build the NB Autism Village - Satellite Model NOW!

 

"New Brunswick has no residential or treatment facilities available for severely autistic persons. This point is not debatable. We have literally exported our most severely autistic loved ones to other jurisdictions even to the United States, at considerable public expense, and at great cost to family members seeking to maintain contact with their autistic loved ones – when they are even able to do so. The lack of institutional level care was made crystal clear in 2005 when a New Brunswick youth who had not been charged or convicted of a crime was housed in a cottage on the grounds of the Miramichi Youth Correctional facility pending an opening becoming available at the Spurwink facility in Maine. See Appendices C and D.

The comments of Heather R. Featured at the outset of this submission also speak to this issue. Members of the Autism Society New Brunswick have severely autistic children who are becoming youths and adults and who require an institutional level of care we do not want to see them exported even temporarily to other jurisdictions and countries. And we worry about what will become of our children when we can no longer care for them; especially once we are no longer alive.
More severely autistic adults in New Brunswick have resided in general psychiatric facilities such as Centracare. Centracare has not been proven to be a suitable placement for autistic
persons. The facility accepts persons with a wide range of mental and psychiatric disorders. This has caused difficulty for autistic persons living there. The staff have not been specifically trained to deal with autistic persons, the living environment is not specifically designed for autistic persons and the presence of persons with other disorders can be very disturbing to some autistic persons.

New Brunswick needs an institutional level of adult and youth residential care and treatment center for the more severely autistic. There are many existing models of care which could be adopted and existing examples abound, primarily in the United States. The Autism Society New Brunswick has also had discussions with long time autism mentor, clinical psychologist and professor of psychology (emeritus) Paul McDonnell around the development of a village model. This concept would envision an autism village with a central hub located in Fredericton. The hub would provide treatment and secure residential placement for severely autistic persons. The village component of the facility would include smaller buildings residential facilities specific to persons with autism disorders of varying severity and age. Fredericton is recommended as the location because of its relatively central location and its proximity to autism specific expert services such as the Stan Cassidy tertiary care pediatric team, the University of New Brunswick and the UNB-CEL autism intervention training program. It is also the seat of government and senior officials in health, family services and education would have ready access to the centre.

The autism village concept does not detract in any way from the community living concepts that have held sway for the past 30 years. It would address the need for residential care and treatment for autistic youths and adults with expert professional services and trained staff knowledgeable in autism disorders, interventions and behaviour management. The residents would be in close physical proximity to the general community in which they could be taken with assistance. Community groups like the Special Olympics and in particular the Autism Community Center could be tapped for volunteers to assist in providing recreational and exercise outings at community trails, parks, pools, and other recreational activity centres."

 As stated Professor Emeritus Paul McDonnell was the mentor who influenced ASNB to conduct a survey of its members and produce a submission to the NB government on adult needs including the then pressing need, long since ignored by government of an autism village. He also attempted to bring government and public attention to the need for evidence based, humane adult autism residential care and treatment in his 2010 interview and analysis with Dan McHardie (CBC) and in a 2015 meeting and presentation of the Autism Village Satellite Model (2015) to then social development  Minister Cathy Rogers. I attended that meeting with Paul McDonnell and with fellow parent autism advocate Cynthia Bartlett. Ms Bartlett and I and another parent autism advocate, and former PC cabinet minister Tony Huntjens,  attended a meeting recently with current social development minister Dorothy Shephard  recently and again discussed the need for the autism village given the proven failures of the Restigouche Hospital which takes autistic adults with severe challenges far from families and the autism expertise available  in Fredericton.

In his 2010 Mchardie/CBC interview Paul McDonnell stated clearly the autism community's greatest need:

Paul McDonnell, September, 2010

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

We need an enhanced group home system throughout the province in which homes would be linked directly to a major centre that could provide ongoing training, leadership and supervision. That major centre could also provide services for those who are mildly affected as well as permanent residential care and treatment for the most severely affected.  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.The focus must be on education, positive living experiences, and individualized curricula. The key to success is properly trained professionals and staff."  (Bold highlighting added - HLD)

Hopefully 20i9 will see the end of the Restigouche Hospital for autistic adults and the beginning of the autism village satellite model.