Meagher maintained that despite U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro's ruling last year that Fernald must remain open to its current residents, the Patrick administration “is trying to subvert that order by reducing the number of residents at Fernald.” The administration has appealed Tauro's ruling to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Unlike most of the remaining Fernald residents, whose guardians and families oppose their transfers out of the facility, the elderly woman is represented legally by a corporate guardian, the Arc of Greater Boston, Inc. (GBARC). GBARC has approved the move, apparently giving DMR the green light to transfer her as early as this coming Thursday to a newly constructed group home in Bedford.
GBARC is affiliated with the Arc of Massachusetts, which is pushing hard for Fernald's closure. So, it's not surprising that GBARC has given its approval to a move that the woman has said she doesn't want and that those working directly with her oppose. The question that Meagher has is how GBARC could have her best interests at heart in this case.
GBARC also represents at least five other Fernald residents, all of whom it has similarly approved for moves to houses in Bedford and Shrewsbury. Three of those residents, none of whom can speak, each of whom is profoundly retarded, and none of whom the 91-year-old woman knows, will be living with her in the Bedford house.
Meagher contends the plan to move the elderly woman out has to do with DMR's larger plans to close Fernald and privatize its services. As part of the overall consolidation and closure effort, DMR plans to close a cottage on the Fernald campus in the cluster of cottages in which she now lives, and move those residents into her cottage. Meagher says DMR needs to move her out to make way for the residents from the other cottage.
Meagher said she had heard that the woman did not want to leave Fernald, so she decided to see for herself. On January 25, Meagher visted her in her living room. Meagher said three direct-care workers were seated nearby and heard the entire conversation.
Meagher said that in response to her questions, the woman said she liked living at Fernald; that she had been there a long time; that she had her own bedroom there; and that she liked going out on field trips with staff in a van. Then Meagher asked her about the new group home in Bedford to which she had recently been taken for a visit. Did she like the house, Meagher asked. Yes, she replied, it was “very pretty.” Did she want to move there? No, she replied. Meagher said she asked the questions several times and got the same answers each time. As far as Meagher was concerned, there could be no mistake in understanding her preference.
“Whenever I asked about whether she wanted to move away from Fernald, she said no,” Meagher said.
Meagher maintained that DMR's insistence on moving the woman out of Fernald “is a clear indication of how desperate this administration is to get the closure process moving even though Judge Tauro has said Fernald must remain open.” Meagher believes that DMR has run into so much opposition to the closure of Fernald from the families and guardians of its current residents that it has had to resort to moving out people such as the 91-year-old woman, who are represented by corporate guardians. “This just shows the lengths to which they are willing to go,” she said.