ANT BITES NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT
by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express http://www.InclusionDaily.com
October 4, 2000

MOBILE, ALABAMA--An investigation by state health officials released this
week revealed that staff members at the Albert P. Brewer Developmental
Center, an institution housing 187 people with developmental disabilities,
reported problems with fire ants several months before a resident was rushed
to an emergency room -- her body covered with hundreds of ant bites.

The investigation was prompted after Renee Herring, 36, was found in her bed
with hundreds of ants crawling over her, on the morning of August 20. The
woman, who has Rett syndrome and is not able to move her limbs, call for
help, or even scream, was rushed to the hospital after being bitten "so many
times that the bites were too numerous to count". Officials believe that
Herring had not been properly checked for several hours, and may have been
covered with the biting insects overnight.

Immediately after the incident, Brewer Center director Levi Harris told
officials, reporters and the parents of the facility's residents, that
Herring's case was an isolated incident. Betty Lyons, Herring's mother and
president of the parents' association, defended the institution.

But over the past few weeks, a Department of Health inspection team found
documentation of at least seven occasions between May 19 and the August 20
incident, where staff members reported finding fire ants on floors, walls,
drinking fountains, and in residents' beds. In fact, six weeks before the
attack on Herring, 44 bites were found on another resident.
Investigators found that supervisors and managers had failed to adequately
respond to the reports.

"This was not an isolated incident," said Rick Harris, director of
health-provider standards at the health department. "This problem had been
reported several times by the staff, and management was just not
responding."

After seeing the report, Lyons told the Mobile Register that she was
surprised supervisors had not acted to prevent the problems before the
attack on her daughter, who is still recovering from the bites. "I hold them
responsible. They knew about this, and they should have done something."

Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Commissioner Kathy Sawyer
has ordered a full investigation. The institution has 10 days to correct the
problems or face losing federal Medicaid funding. Brewer Center officials
did not comment yesterday.
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Sent by:
Dave Reynolds, Editor
Inclusion Daily Express
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