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| Pam Dahl is the mother of Derrick Dahl, a 36-year-old man with
developmental disabilities who lives in a group home in Medford. Beth
Nakamura/Staff |
The mother of a man with developmental disabilities, whose
story of advocacy was recently published in The Oregonian/OregonLive, is now questioning if she’s facing retribution for challenging the care her son receives.
A
visit with her son Thursday was cut short, Pam Dahl said, when a worker
complained she badmouthed the company that runs the southern Oregon
group home where he lives.
Then, on Monday, a Jackson County employee
pushed to find a public guardian for Derrick Dahl, according to an
email reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Someone
other than Pam Dahl should serve as a guardian, the government employee
wrote in the email, because of the mother’s inconsistent contact with
her son and the “disruptive nature” of her visits.
The
story of Pam Dahl and her son was published a month ago as an example
of the difficulties facing parents with developmentally disabled adult
children and flaws in Oregon’s system that cares for them. Derrick
Dahl’s caregiving team and his doctors came under scrutiny after Pam
Dahl fought for specialized medical advice after learning about her
son’s health issues.
Pam Dahl said she
wasn’t disruptive in her visit last week but instead questioned if her
son would be better-served at a different group home operated by the
same company. Derrick Dahl, 36, has required medical attention for two
recent falls, she said, leaving him with a concussion and a split lip.
Just
days later, Pam Dahl discovered a county worker pushing to officially
hand decision-making power to someone else, a move that could limit her
input.
The government employee didn’t contact Pam Dahl before making the recommendation to identify a guardian, the mother said.
“I don’t think that I should be cut out of
his life, and that’s what it makes me feel like,” said Pam Dahl, 55.
She chose not to become her son’s guardian when he became an adult but
remained involved in his life, visiting from her home several hours
away.
Alternative Services-Oregon, the
group home operator, denies any retribution toward Pam Dahl. Jackson
County officials didn’t respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Oregon’s
Office of Developmental Disabilities Services did not immediately
respond to questions about Pam Dahl’s allegations or whether the state
would review the matter.
“Anyone with a
concern about services can file a complaint,” an agency spokeswoman
said, adding that the mother could still seek guardianship to determine
where her son lives.
The state of
Oregon operates a public guardianship program only as last resort.
Instead of tapping a family member or professional guardian to serve in
that role, a guardian from the Oregon Public Guardian and Conservator
Program would make decisions for an individual.
“Guardianship
is one of the most severe restrictions on a person’s right to
self-determination and should never be considered lightly,” according to
the agency’s website.
Chris Rosin, appointed the Oregon public
guardian and conservator, in February said his office served as guardian
for just 55 adults statewide, 11 of whom have intellectual or
developmental disabilities.
Pam and
Derrick Dahl were featured in a front-page investigation by The
Oregonian/OregonLive in May examining Oregon’s flawed system for people
with developmental disabilities who cannot make medical decisions and
who lack legal guardians.
In such
cases, medical decisions are made by an appointed health care
representative with approval by a team of caregivers, service
coordinators or family members.
In
2017, doctors at Providence Medical Group evaluated Derrick Dahl and
identified a mass that was “concerning” for a sarcoma, a cancerous
tumor, records show. But he wasn’t immediately seen by a cancer
specialist.
Pam Dahl pushed for
Derrick’s care team to obtain an opinion from a specialist in 2018,
leading to surgery at OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute and the revelation
that the tumor apparently was not cancerous.
Pam
Dahl’s decision to publicly share her son’s cancer scare exposed
simmering tension with Alternative Services, the group home operator,
which began years ago, according to a former employee.
The company’s executive director, Pat
Allen-Sleeman, initially responded to newsroom inquiries about Derrick
Dahl’s medical care from 2017 and 2018 by saying “there is really no
story here to tell, except misinformation, a dramatic self-serving
version and an inaccurate and harmful story.”
Pam
Dahl said interactions with Alternative Services have gone downhill
since the story’s publication. A visit Thursday with her son ended when a
company employee asked her to leave, she said.
Pam
Dahl said she questioned caregivers at the group home about her son’s
injuries and said she would like him to move to a different group home,
also operated by Alternative Services, where he lived until early 2018.
One of the caregivers called a supervisor and then handed over the phone.
“She
said, ‘You’re going to have to leave,’” Pam Dahl said of her
conversation with the supervisor. “‘We can’t have you badmouthing the
company to other employees.’”
Pam Dahl
said she questioned how she could be badmouthing the company when she
was advocating for him to move to a different home operated by
Alternative Services.
“There was no reason to ask me to leave,” Pam Dahl said. “I was stunned.”
Allen-Sleeman,
the company’s executive director, said Pam Dahl was told “she should
not be speaking badly about ASI to our staff, and that if she couldn’t
calm down, she would be asked to leave.”
Pam Dahl asked the employees if she was being disruptive, and, when told
she was, flipped the phone back to them and left, Allen-Sleeman said.
On Monday, Derrick Dahl’s services
coordinator at Jackson County proposed the need to find Derrick Dahl a
public guardian, according to an email Pam Dahl shared with The
Oregonian/OregonLive.
Melissa Walker
wrote that she received a few calls and emails about Thursday’s
incident. It was her “understanding” that Pam Dahl wanted her son to
move to a different group home, Walker wrote, but Pam Dahl “cannot
dictate” where her son lives because she is not his guardian.
“Because
of the disruptive nature of Pam’s visits and the inconsistency of her
contact with Derrick, I don’t feel she would be the best guardian for
him, hence my proposal of a public guardian,” Walker wrote.
Pam
Dahl acknowledges that she hasn’t been consistent in her visits but
disputes that she was disruptive. Pam Dahl said she didn’t speak with
Walker before Walker proposed a guardian.
Neither Walker nor her boss, Rick Hammel, responded to requests for comment Tuesday.
Last
week’s incident was only the latest hint of friction between Pam Dahl
and Alternative Services, according to a former employee at the company.
Jamie Gregory said she was the manager at
the group home where Derrick Dahl lived until April 2018. Gregory told
The Oregonian/OregonLive that she remembered hearing disparaging
comments about Pam Dahl and being instructed to withhold information
from the mother after she learned about her son’s tumor that spring.
Around
the same time Alternative Services moved Derrick Dahl to a different
group home operated by the company, a move Gregory said she vocally
opposed. Gregory said she was fired shortly after, which she attributes
in part to speaking up for Derrick Dahl.
“If Derrick could voice his own opinion, he would not agree with the move either,” Gregory told the newsroom.
Allen-Sleeman
said the program manager who allegedly made disparaging comments is on
vacation and unable to respond. Allen-Sleeman said she could not comment
on a former employee’s “performance issues” but said Gregory’s
statements are “very questionable.”
“A
disgruntled ex-employee is not a credible reporter in my estimation,”
she said. “But of course that makes a better story than the actuality of
what really occurred.”
It’s not clear who may make decisions for Derrick Dahl going forward.
Walker’s
recommendation Monday was emailed to a Jackson County employee,
Allen-Sleeman, three other Alternative Services staff members and one
former company employee, who serves as Derrick Dahl’s unpaid health care
representative.
Allen-Sleeman said every member of Derrick Dahl’s care team agreed he should have a public guardian.
Pam Dahl hasn’t responded to the email.
Pam
Dahl said she would be interested in becoming her son’s guardian if he
moved to Eugene, Corvallis or Salem. Those cities are closer to her home
on the Oregon coast and would allow her to be more involved, she said.
Pam Dahl said she thinks she needs a lawyer but isn’t sure who to contact for help.
“I feel like I’m on one side against all of them,” she said, “and I need someone to represent me.”
-- Brad Schmidt
Full Article & Source:
Mother questions retaliation after advocating for son with developmental disabilities
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