Pact Reached to Let Disabled Remain in 5 Care Homes

Attorneys and Medi-Cal officials reached an agreement Friday afternoon that will permit handicapped residents to stay in group homes in the San Fernando Valley that they had stubbornly refused to leave.

The agreement reached at the Los Angeles County Courthouse downtown requires the owner, New Start Homes Inc., to obtain licensing from the state within 60 days or make substantial progress toward that end.

New Start has been allowed to operate without a license primarily because the facility is unique. State regulations governing such homes are still in draft form. The agreement stipulates that in the months ahead, New Start will try to comply with the draft regulations, even if the formal licensing procedures are not in place.

Superior Court Judge Ricardo A. Torres later approved the agreement before a courtroom filled with employees, parents and residents who jammed the aisles with their wheelchairs.

Urged to Leave

Attention was focused on the five suburban homes Thursday when Medi-Cal officials urged the 19 residents to leave because inspections had reportedly disclosed a pattern of health and safety problems. The residents were warned that they would have to pay their own bills because state payments to the homes were being cut off.

Ambulances arrived at the five houses Thursday morning, but all 16 adult residents refused to be transferred to a hospital. Three children were moved to Childrens Hospital.

Under the court agreement, Mary Williams, the New Start owner, will have to comply with fire safety codes, staffing requirements and nutritional standards. New Start may not accept new patients or establish more facilities until the problems are resolved.

The three children taken from the facilities Thursday will not be returned until New Start receives its license.

The courtroom crowd needed a few moments to understand Torres’ order. It was difficult for some of them to absorb the legal findings and to hear the soft-spoken judge over the hum of battery-charged respirators used by paralyzed residents.

Laughed and Hugged

But then there was jubilation. Some cried; others laughed and hugged. Parties were planned back at the homes.

“Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” exclaimed Jim McNair, a motorcycle accident victim.

“I’ve been sick to my stomach for three days,” said a tearful Jenny Reynolds. “I’m so happy I can’t tell you how happy I am.”

She stood next to her 29-year-old daughter, who had also been crying.

“We all get to stay home,” said Lori Aguilar, who was making a stop with her mother for champagne before heading home.

In the crowded corridor outside the courtroom, New Start’s attorneys questioned why the state could not have negotiated earlier in the week to avoid the residents’ heartache.

“They just went ahead and forced the issue by sending the ambulances,” attorney Robert Gerst said. “I think all of this could have been avoided without any question.”

Attorneys representing the state Department of Health Services denied that they could have done anything differently. They said the state worked with New Start for two years without seeing problems solved.

“The department’s primary concern was the health and safety of the residents,” said Lesley A. Sive, a deputy attorney general. “The department is very sensitive to the wishes of the residents. We knew they wanted to stay in the facilities, but we were caught in a bind. We knew the conditions were substandard.”

Nora Quinn of the Western Law Center for the Handicapped at Loyola University Law School, who represented the residents, tried to put the week’s events in perspective.

“It was a good case because everyone involved was interested in the safety and satisfaction of the clients,” Quinn said.