To build a future for their son, Dallas couple plan $12 million community for young adults with autism

Retired doctors Debra Caudy and husband Clay Heighten (right) with their 19-year-old son Jon

A Dallas couple is planning to construct a $12 million community for people with autism on nearly 29 acres of land that was formerly a polo ranch in the Denton County town of Cross Roads.

It will include 15 homes, a community center and access to a ‘transitional academy’ that is designed to help young adults with autism develop the skills needed to live and work independently.

Clay Heighten, a retired emergency doctor and founder of a real estate management company, and his wife Debra Caudy, a retired medical oncologist, are leading the project.

The inspiration is their 19-year old son, Jon, who is on the severe end of the autism spectrum and requires a high level of supportive care.

Both worry that people like Jon have little options as adults. "It's about offering a choice," explained Heighten.

“We’re trying to create something that would provide an enriched quality of life, so that people like Jon eventually require less supervision,” he said.

In October 2015, the couple invested $745,000 to purchase the land, and last year created a non-profit called 29 Acres to raise money for the project.


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To build a future for their son, Dallas couple plan $12 million community for young adults with autism

Police department creates the ‘Grandma Unit’ to help spread love and hugs

CHARLESTON, WV (WCMH) — These ladies have been hired to dispense much needed love and hugs to their community.

The “G-Unit,” as they liked to be called, was sworn in Tuesday by the Charleston Police Department. They won’t be making arrests or investigating crimes, but they are ready to serve their community.

“When we’re given something to do we take it seriously, and we keep up with it,” Grandma Unit member Karen Smith told WCHS.

These woman all came together to help others because they know what it means to need it. All 11 were once victims of elder abuse or domestic violence.

“Oh my goodness it’s a win for everybody. They feel good by doing it, and they want to do it. That’s what helps this awesome partnership,” Cpl. Errol Randle with the Charleston Police Department told WCHS.

The ladies are now ready to hit the streets for their communities, so if you get pulled over by a member of the G-Unit, be prepared for a hug.

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Police department creates the ‘Grandma Unit’ to help spread love and hugs

Keep Your Brain Healthy, Lower the Risk of Alzheimer’s

More than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive, incurable condition that robs them of their memory and often changes their very personality.

A new documentary airing on PBS at 10 p.m. Eastern time on Jan. 25 examines the disease and what will be needed to confront it.

Alzheimer’s: Every Minute Counts, produced by Twin Cities PBS (the parent of Next Avenue), features interviews with doctors, researchers and caregivers. The focus is on the urgent need for more research, especially as the large boomer generation ages.

One of those interviewed is Dr. Rudolph Tanzi of Harvard Medical School, a longtime Alzheimer’s researcher.

The video below consists of special footage that does not appear in the documentary. Its creators have provided Next Avenue with this exclusive clip. Watch as Tanzi shares his advice to encourage brain health — and possibly decrease your risk of Alzheimer’s. No. 2 on his list of top tips will surprise you.

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Keep Your Brain Healthy, Lower the Risk of Alzheimer’s

New Tennessee law focuses on combatting vulnerable adult abuse

Sullivan County District Attorney Barry Staubus hopes that a new Tennessee law going into effect on Jan. 1 will be the key to combating vulnerable adult abuse similar to the progress that has been made in fighting child abuse.

Vulnerable adults are defined in the law as anyone over the age of 18 who because of a mental or physical disability cannot manage their resources, perform daily tasks or protect themselves from abusive situations.

“For years it was embarrassing to report it,” Staubus said of child abuse. “We’ve seen a tremendous transition where more and more people will report child abuse so that we can help children and hold the wrong-doers accountable. We’re hoping the same process will happen with vulnerable adults.”

The new law requires all Tennessee district attorneys to establish a multi-disciplinary vulnerable adult protective investigative team, or VAPIT, to coordinate investigation of cases of abuse, neglect and exploitation of vulnerable adults.

“This law is based on some tried and true techniques and foundations that are used in child abuse cases,” Staubus said. “We want people to know that this team exists, that this process exists, that these resources exist and if they know of any adults they suspect are being abused sexually or physically or being neglected or financially being taken advantage of to report that.”

Reports can be made by calling Tennessee’s Adult Protective Services hotline at 1-888-277-8366 or by visiting https://reportadultabuse.dhs.tn.gov. Anyone that reports to APS is kept anonymous under the law but if they’re a witness to a crime or criminal activity they could be called as a witness.

“I’ve got some pending [cases] now in which people have almost literally been starved to death,” said Sullivan County Assistant District Attorney Amy Hinkle. “There’s actually been several of those reported in the last month.”

The law will provide more outreach and awareness, better trained officers to detect vulnerable adult abuse, and more resources to help victims.

Sullivan County’s VAPIT has already met and team members have attended training. Staubus said officials have learned that outreach and awareness is an important part of cases being reported and prosecuted.

Exploitation of vulnerable adults is on the rise in Sullivan County, especially of the elderly, according to Staubus. The population of adults that are 65 years or older is also increasing, which means there are more people to take advantage of, he said.

“Many of these cases are driven by people that need drugs or need money,” Staubus said. “So they turn to their grandmother, their elderly aunt, or their neighbor they’re supposed to be taking care of and what they end up doing is stealing their [prescription] drugs or stealing their money.”

While more people are beginning to report cases of exploitation, Hinkle said, neglect of vulnerable adults - especially the elderly - is also on the rise in the county, she said.

There have been several cases of people being left in their homes with no food or medication and in filthy environments, including in urine and feces. In one case, Hinkle said, a woman fell out of her bed and laid there for 12 hours before someone arrived to help her.

The team will also reinforce the goal of the future Sullivan County Family Justice Center, Staubus said. The center will be a one-stop location for victims of domestic violence to receive help from law enforcement, the Department of Children’s Services, legal services, the Children’s Advocacy Center and Abuse Alternatives.

“We want to make more of the public aware that we’re making a concentrated effort to protect vulnerable adults,” Staubus said. “We want to help these folks and the people that perpetrate the crimes; we want to do everything that the law allows us to do to punish them for what they’ve done.”

Staubus expects more programs will be developed in the future and awareness of vulnerable adult abuse will improve. The goal, Staubus said, is not only to prosecute cases but to prevent the crimes from occurring.

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New Tennessee law focuses on combatting vulnerable adult abuse

Pseudodementia is Often Curable

Pseudodementia walks and talks like dementia, but it often responds positively, with treatment permanently improving cognition. Learn how recognizing the difference can change one's life.

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Pseudodementia was first coined in 1961 by psychiatrist Leslie Kiloh. Dr. Kiloh noticed patients with cognitive symptoms consistent with dementia who improved with treatment, a pattern inconsistent with the progressive neurodegenerative nature of dementia.

 

Diagnosis

Pseudodementia can be caused by a large variety of underlying disorders, but most commonly, it is depression masquerading as dementia.

Depressed elderly patients may exhibit substantial cognitive deficits. To further complicate the clinician's task, people with dementia are often depressed. For example, 20% to 40% of Alzheimer's patients have major depression (Brown, 2005). This makes the relationship between depression and dementia very complicated. So the question is how to differentiate the two.

Pseudodementia can sometimes be the result of causes that are “not real” and even “fake”. Pseudodementia can be the result of psychological tension that is not caused by a physical illness. Notwithstanding, it is more likely that it is caused by a real brain pathology.

Telling Depression & Dementia Apart

In contrast to the gradual onset of dementia, pseudodemented depression comes on rapidly. Furthermore, whereas the pseudodemented patient appears distressed and may express fear of losing his mind, the person with true dementia often seems relatively unconcerned and tends to minimize his problem.

Continued below table...

Source: Clinical Concerns

The truly demented patient is usually inattentive and has greater impairment of recent than remote memory. In contrast, the depressed patient, though attentive, will complain of both kinds of memory loss and then test better than what he describes. He is also more likely to have had previous similar episodes.

While a demented person may cooperate and try to bluff his way through the testing, the pseudodemented person is often uncooperative, insisting that he cannot do it. This should not be confused with malingering but seen more as a reflection of the feeling of inadequacy that goes along with serious depression.

Treating Pseudodementia

When treated (as depression), in contrast to true dementia, pseudodementia often responds positively. While the depression may be treatable, treatment rarely achieves a full reversal of the cognitive impairment that made the doctor suspect dementia.

Risk Factors

Unfortunately, recent studies suggest pseudodementia carries an increased risk for the subsequent development of true dementia (Brown, 2005). It may turn out that depression in the elderly, at least in some cases, is an early signal of dementia. Still, if at the initial presentation the problem is mainly depression, it is important that it be recognized and treated accordingly.

Clinical Suspicion is Essential

In summary, psychiatric symptoms that bring on dementia-like deficits in the elderly result from a host of conditions. Many of them are readily treatable, if properly recognized. The term "pseudodementia" provides a "starting" language that offers a useful step in getting to a more accurate diagnosis and treatment. A high index of clinical suspicion is essential.

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Pseudodementia is Often Curable

Las Vegas lawyer accused of stealing millions from clients arrested

By JEFF GERMAN and DAVID FERRARA
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Embattled probate lawyer Robert Graham was arrested Wednesday after being indicted by a Clark County grand jury in connection with the theft of $2.1 million from clients.

He faces three felony counts each of theft and exploitation of an older/vulnerable person, and two gross misdemeanor counts of destroying evidence.

Chief Deputy District Attorney J.P. Raman said in court Wednesday that Graham may have stolen more than $15 million from his clients.

Records show that Graham was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on $5 million bail.

 

District Attorney Steve Wolfson said in a news release that the investigation is ongoing and he expects to file more charges.

“We felt it was necessary to quickly seek an indictment on this case to ensure that evidence was preserved and that Mr. Graham was unable to cause any further financial damage to families in our community,” Wolfson said. ”Attorneys are held to a high ethical standard, which evokes a certain level of trust from their clients, and the violation of that trust is unacceptable.”

The State Bar of Nevada filed a complaint against Graham last month alleging that he stole millions of dollars from dozens of clients before abruptly closing his Lawyers West office in Summerlin on Dec. 2.

Las Vegas police and the FBI have been jointly investigating the disappearance of the funds.

The indictment alleges Graham stole $2.1 million from clients in three of his cases between July 9, 2013, and Dec. 2, 2016. Two of the cases involved elderly victims and one involved a “vulnerable” victim, according to the indictment.

“But this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Raman said. “There will be many, many more victims and much more monetary theft.”

While Graham shuttered his firm, he logged into a corporate “Dropbox” account and deleted nearly 3,000 files that related to clients, wire transfers and operations, according to the prosecutor.
“He’s facing extremely serious criminal charges — not only what we have on him today, but what we’ll be bringing in the future,” Raman said. “He will obviously be facing significant punishment when he answers to the full scope of the crimes committed.”

Deputy Public Defender Bryan Cox, representing Graham in the criminal case, said late Wednesday that he has had “ongoing dialogue” with prosecutors and provided them with documents.

 

Asked about deleted files, Cox said, “We strongly disagree with, and we deny that allegation.” He added that Graham may have moved files to a hard drive “for preservation.”

“It’s our contention that no files have been deleted or erased,” Cox said.

The defense attorney also said he planned to address Graham’s custody status at a future court hearing, though no date has been set.

“We don’t believe he’s a flight risk,” Cox said.

The indictment alleges that Graham stole $1.1 million from the estate of Michael Macknin, $595,596 from the estate of Lois Lee and $471,585 from the special needs trust of Thane Parton.

One of the Macknin family lawyers, Joseph Kistler, hailed the district attorney’s pursuit of the indictment.

“Mr. Wolfson is an honorable, ethical attorney who undoubtedly shares the community’s dismay caused by these events,” Kistler said in an email. “My client joins with the other former clients of Lawyers West and Robert Graham, LTD in trusting that justice will be done for themselves and the State of Nevada.”

Kistler has been waging a separate fight in Clark County District Court to obtain the $1.1 million Graham had held for the Macknin estate.

The estate is among several former clients who joined forces to file an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Graham’s law practice last month to recover their missing money.

Graham, a prominent figure in the probate legal community before his temporary suspension in December, operated his law practice under three separate entities, including Lawyers West. He also once maintained offices in Utah and Colorado.

Just days after shutting down his office, Graham turned over possession of a $1 million home in Fort Collins, Colorado, to his wife.

Records show that Linda Graham filed for bankruptcy in Colorado on Dec. 31.

She estimated in the bankruptcy petition that her assets were worth $1 million to $10 million, but that her financial liabilities were between $10 million and $50 million.

Among her listed potential creditors are many of her husband’s former clients.

Linda Graham, who also is a lawyer, said in the petition she is now suing him for divorce in Colorado.

She also said there is a $713,146 mortgage on the home and that she owes the IRS $111,727.
The Grahams bought the 4,247-square-foot home together in Colorado in July 2014 for $955,000, records in that state show. But on Dec. 5, amid allegations that his clients’ money was missing, Graham filed a new deed turning over the home to his wife.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal last month, Graham described his law practice as a 20-year business failure. He declined, however, to explain what had happened to the missing funds.

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Las Vegas lawyer accused of stealing millions from clients arrested

S.C. Rep. Corley indicted on two felony charges; suspended from legislature

This Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016 photo provided by the Aiken County Detention Center, S.C., shows South Carolina Rep. Chris Corley, who authorities said attacked his wife in their Graniteville home. He was charged with first-degree domestic violence. (Aiken County Detention Center via AP)

South Carolina state Rep. Chris Corley has been indicted on one count of domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature and one count pointing and presenting a firearm, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

As a result, he has been suspended from the state legislature, according to the state House Speaker’s Office.

“The Aiken County Grand Jury has indicted Representative Chris Corley on multiple felony charges. Pursuant to state law, he has been suspended effective immediately from the South Carolina House of Representatives,” Speaker Jay Lucas (District 65-Darlington) said in a statement.

The Aiken County Grand Jury returned the indictments Wednesday, according to a news release from the Attorney General’s Office. The indictment accuses Corley of causing physical harm to his wife on Dec. 26 in the presence of minors with a gun.

Domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Pointing and presenting a firearm is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine.

According to a police incident report, an Aiken County sheriff’s deputy arrested Corley on accusations of punching his wife in the face and head and threatening to kill her while pointing a Smith & Wesson handgun at her. The report stated that the incident happened in front of the couple’s 8- and 2-year-old children.

Corley, 36, told the officer that his wife tried to hit him in the face and that he pushed her away.

Corley was first elected to the South Carolina House in 2014, according to previous reports. He was a fierce opponent of the governor’s push to remove the Rebel flag from the state Capitol last year and caused a stir by mailing Christmas cards last year that featured the flag with a caption that read, in part, “happier times when South Carolina’s leaders possessed morals, convictions and the principles to stand up for what is right.”

The flag was removed in response to avowed white supremacist Dylann Roof’s slaying of nine black church members in Charleston.

Bond for Corley was set Dec. 27 at $10,000 on each of the two charges. Conditions of Corley’s bond prohibit him from having any contact with his wife – in person, by email, over the phone or through a third party. He must stay at least 500 feet away from her, the judge ordered.

He also may not possess any firearm. Corley requested and was granted permission to travel to Augusta for work, where he is a lawyer.

Corley’s lawyer told the judge that Corley had never been arrested before, and Capt. Eric Abdullah said the sheriff’s office had no prior calls to the Corley residence.

Upcoming hearings in Corley’s case have been set for Feb. 10 and May 5.

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S.C. Rep. Corley indicted on two felony charges; suspended from legislature

Caregiving Costly For Special Needs Families

Families of children with special needs provide billions of dollars in unpaid medical care each year, researchers say, significantly compromising their own ability to earn a living.

Data collected from more than 40,000 parents or guardians of those with special needs across the country suggests that about half of these kids — some 5.6 million children — need assistance at home with managing everything from feeding to breathing equipment and physical therapy.

“If parents did not provide this care at home, children would need to stay in the hospital longer, professionals would need to come to the home or children might not get the care that their physicians prescribe,” said Mark Schuster, chief of general pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and a senior investigator on the study which was published recently in the journal Pediatrics.

“Parents want to do everything they can for their children, but it can be a real challenge to juggle their ill child, their other children and sometimes their job,” he said.

All told, families provide nearly $36 billion worth of care annually, the study found. On average, kids with special needs received 5.1 hours of medical care from family members each week, but that figure grew to 11.2 hours weekly for those with intellectual disability and 14.4 hours for those with cerebral palsy.

These estimates don’t factor time families spend helping with daily activities like bathing and dressing, researchers said.

The findings come from an analysis of data collected through the 2009-2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs.

Families lose out on an estimated $3,200 in earnings per year related to their medical caregiving responsibilities for each child, the study found, or over $17 billion collectively. If they were to hire aides to provide medical care, it would run between $2,100 and $6,400 annually per child, costs that researchers said can be prohibitive for many families.

Beyond the financial toll, those behind that study noted that the added responsibilities of providing medical care for a child can also bring emotional stress.

“We need to do a better job of training family caregivers in how to take care of their children at home, and we need better supports for them,” Schuster said.

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Caregiving Costly For Special Needs Families

Safeguarding Guardianship: An Interbranch Approach

by Lisa McKinney

The Texas Legislature passed 10 bills in 2015 reforming the legal framework governing guardianship in the state, a feat that Texas state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, who sponsored or co-sponsored all of the bills, attributes to cooperation and communication between the Legislature, which creates guidelines that govern the process; the courts, which are primarily responsible for establishing and overseeing guardianships; and executive agencies that provide public guardianship services for those who do not have appropriate family members to serve as guardians.

“The guardian is a very powerful person, so the courts have tremendous power,” said Zaffirini. She said she understood this most vividly when while a visiting nursing home, a resident named James Ryan requested to see her. He was almost entirely paralyzed due to a stroke, but was able to communicate via a specially-equipped computer.

“He wrote me a letter using his computer, which then read it to me, thanking me for my work,” she said. “I was so moved. To this day my staff and I work with James Ryan.” At his request, Zaffirini and her staff had Ryan transferred out of the nursing home and arranged for a family member to be paid to care for him.

“His mind is clear as it can be, but he felt he had no power—he said he couldn’t even commit suicide if he wanted to,” she said. “You don’t know what is going on in a person’s mind.”

The process for placing an adult under guardianship varies by state, but each branch of government plays a role in ensuring guardianship is a safe and effective mechanism for protecting individuals who can no longer make or communicate sound decisions about themselves and their property, or have become vulnerable to abuse, fraud or undue influence.

“My staff has been instructed to reach out to everyone who is interested in the topic and invite everyone—no matter how deep their disagreement—or whether they support our priorities or oppose them, to come to the table and help us pass even better legislation than we passed last time,” said Zaffirini.

Texas’ Guardianship Compliance Project was born out of this cooperative approach. The pilot project, which is funded by the Legislature and implemented by the Office of Court Administration, was launched in November 2015 to provide additional resources to courts handling guardianship cases. The goal of the project is to help courts make sound decisions in guardianship cases by reviewing current guardianships to identify reporting deficiencies, auditing annual accountings and reporting findings back to the court, and working with courts to develop best practices in managing guardianship cases.

“They have been so successful in investigating the problem (in the pilot counties) that we are going to ask for $3 million to go statewide when the Legislature convenes in January,” said Zaffirini.

In Texas, all guardians are required to obtain bonds—a sort of insurance policy that protects the person in guardianship should the guardian mishandle assets. In one county, the Compliance Project found about 40 percent of cases had guardianship bonds waived, even though there is no statutory authority for waiving bonds. “We realize it is not just a matter of passing good laws, but also enforcing the laws we have,” said Zaffirini. “For example, what good does it do us to pass a law on bonds of a guardian if a judge is going to, without authority, waive that bond? So we have to be vigilant and ensure that the laws that we pass are good laws but that we also pass any additional laws that we need to prevent and identify any abuse in the system.”

They also found numerous cases of guardians mishandling or misusing assets.

“In many cases there is no annual report, there is no initial inventory, there are questionable expenditures and there are missing assets including—listen to this—an airplane,” said Zaffirini. “How do you lose an airplane?”

Zaffirini also engages with the judiciary and other stakeholders through her appointment to the Texas Judicial Council’s Elders and Mental Health committees. The council consists of judges from all levels of the judiciary, legislators and citizen representatives. The Elders Committee makes recommendations to the Texas Judicial Council, and the Working Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholders, or WINGS, makes legislative recommendations, which Zaffirini and other engaged legislators can carry to the Legislature.

“It is direct engagement,” said Zaffirini.

WINGS, created by the National Guardianship Network, is a partnership between court and community guardianship stakeholders to help states improve judicial processes, protect individual rights and meet needs, address insufficient funding, and ensure guardian accountability and fiduciary standards. In 2013, the program was piloted in four states—New York, Oregon, Texas and Utah. In 2015, it was expanded to Indiana; Minnesota; Mississippi; Washington; Washington, D.C. and Wisconsin.

"WINGS-MN brings together many stakeholders in our state,” said Judge Jamie Anderson of Minnesota’s Hennepin County District Court. “There are approximately a dozen local WINGS groups across the country, so we can learn from each other and avoid recreating the wheel.”

“We work together to brainstorm ways to improve guardianship, work with the community and develop options for avoiding guardianship, when that's appropriate," Anderson said.

Participants in Minnesota include representatives from the Veterans Administration, the Social Security Administration, the state Department of Human Services’ Adult Protective Services, and the Minnesota Association for Guardianship & Conservatorship, as well as the state court administrator and attorneys. Anderson said the group acknowledges the need for guardianship, while also partnering with all the different players involved in the process to improve guardianship and create less restrictive alternatives to full legal guardianship.

Anderson is collaborating with WINGS in Minnesota’s 4th Judicial District to provide online and in-person training for guardians and conservators prior to appointment. Guardians may be required to retake the training if there are issues with timeliness and quality of annual reporting.

Although interbranch cooperation often leads to improved outcomes for those under guardianship, the three branches don’t always agree on the course of action.

“I am in Cook County and the Cook County public guardian had concerns that a number of the pieces of legislation were going too far in taking power away from (his office),” said Illinois state Rep. David Harris, who sponsored a bill clarifying that a temporary guardian’s powers and duties are limited to what is enumerated in a court order. “House Bill 2504 dealt with length of temporary guardianship. I was going to shorten from 120 to 90 days, but the public guardian felt that wasn’t enough time for courts to review.”

Harris said engaging with the public guardian helped him understand what they were willing to compromise on. “You need to get that interaction to make sure the legislation has support to pass,” he said.

Source:
Safeguarding Guardianships:  An Interbranch Approach

See Also:
NASGA:  WINGS