Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 9

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1994DETROIT FREE PRESS 9 A Lafayette Clinic: The pain lingers Kids need computer learning so they won't be left behind 4 Cruising the information superhighway once again, this time with some good news on the Detroit scene. When I last wrote about the information superhighway several months ago, I focused on my continuing concern that low-income families could be I've seen. Just as important, he is equally as enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge. He envisions the use of multimedia as a way to reach young people who have so far been beyond reach. Johnson thinks a large part of the explanation behind the behavior of many troubled youngsters who perform poorly in school is the constant fear of embarrassment from their peers and from teachers.

For example, a kid who can't read is a prime target to become a dropout or a troublemaker simolv to compensate for his or her KEITH A. Owens 'I if, 1 'Tiki 4 i 4x left behind in the oncoming information-age revolution. In an era when many offices do all their business by computers, fax machines and E-mail, poor folks who can't even afford a decent meal certainly won't have the money to be The cost i 'It' ignorance. Johnson is convinced this hurdle can be overcome through computer-assisted teaching techniques. As opposed to the normal classroom, where kids see and hear what others do and don't know, computers force students to focus attention on their individual screens.

Johnson envisions a classroom where students virtually can take control of their own learning how much they learn and at what rate by using computers that are programmed for instruction at individual levels. If you've ever seen the kind of computers that Johnson has at the Leon Sullivan Academy, then you're I Free Press file photo A hand-lettered sign in a window at Lafayette Clinic reads: "Engler kills research No hope for the future." The clinic was shut down by order of Gov. John Engler in 1992, and its patients were moved to other facilities. Need's there, but services haven't been replaced BY THOMAS M. SULLIVAN Too little has been said about the heinous manner in which Lafayette Clinic in Detroit was ordered closed by Gov.

John Engler in October 1992. The closure has become a focal point of this year's campaign for governor, and there are some things you should know. Testimony before the state House Mental Health Committee documented numerous violations of psychiatric care standards in the way the closure occurred. Witnesses told the committee that the state failed to give adequate notification to patients and families, failed to seek professional opinions of patients' treatment teams, disregarded attending physicians' orders and changed patients' treatment status without appropriate plans in place. The state also used unfamiliar staff from other public hospitals to care for patients who were anxious about leaving, moved patients who were medically unstable, provided discharged patients with nothing more than community agency phone numbers, failed to have records, medications and clothing transferred to new locations in a timely manner, abandoned the state's implicit treatment covenant with 700 outpatients and placed responsibility for Lafayette Clinic's patients in the hands of a non-psychiatrist.

Gov. Engler and state Mental Health Director James Haveman have said that the only problem with the clinic's closure were the demonstrations that took place outside the facility. Those protests, which included relatives of the clinic's patients, had nothing to do with the atrocities committed by the state. State officials, upon receiving a favorable court ruling on Oct. 15, 1992, decided that the clinic would close immediately.

They were taking no chances that an appeal to a higher court might go against them. Their concern for vulnerable citizens entrusted to their care was nowhere to be found. The precipitous, poorly planned closure of Lafayette Clinic can be linked to It's practically is ft possible to go through college on The facility treated 1,000 outpatients annually. computer at your own speed. of your basic personal computer runs at least $1,500, which might as well be the price of Ft.

Knox when you're broke. Since most poor kids attend public schools that are no match for schools located in wealthier areas, they don't have access to the quality of education that can adequately prepare them for the computer age. Since the vast majority of jobs in the future particularly the good-paying ones will require a good working knowledge of computers, it's safe to say this qualifies as a crisis. The vast majority of prison inmates are not only poorly educated but functionally illiterate. It's not hard to draw the connection between being educationally ill-equipped and being in prison.

It's not automatic, but it's close. Simply put, when you're not qualified for the legitimate jobs available, the next likely step is self-qualification for employment in the illegitimate job market. Properly equipped public schools are the only bridge between the masses of poor kids and the high-technology future. Public libraries can be useful as well, but there will never be as many kids going to libraries as schools. Fortunately, some educational institutions already have steered onto the information superhighway.

One of them, the Leon Sullivan Academy, is right here in Detroit. The academy is part of the Detroit Public Schools, and offers free multimedia training courses using some of the latest technology available. The multimedia course is run by Robert Johnson, who is as fluent in the language of computers as anyone aware of the awesome potential. For folks like me who are slowly stumbling out of the technological stone age, I percent of the clinic's training effort has been maintained. Waiting lists for community mental health services in Wayne County rose astronomically in 1993.

Wayne State still has not established 10 inpatient research beds that were supposed to be created in 1993 (for which taxpayers have spent almost $5 million over the past two years). In fact, Wayne State now says there will be only six beds. The state Constitution obligates the state to ensure appropriate services for the severely mentally ill. Because of the closing of Lafayette Clinic, there are now no public sector research beds for mentally ill patients in Michigan. Public sector beds are needed for patients who are difficult to treat in private settings and who may need access to newer experimental drugs.

Lafayette Clinic had the capacity for 127 beds for patients of all ages. The clinic was a bargain for state taxpayers, with a net cost of $1 a year per taxpayer. Lafayette Clinic should be reopened. Thomaz M. Sullivan, MD, was a psychiatrist for 32 years and clinical director for 14 years at Lafayette several instances of patient harm.

The media have focused on only one case the death referred to in a political ad. But few have reported that the woman who died after being released from Lafayette Clinic was scheduled for a thorough neurological exam the week of Oct. 18, 1992. That exam was( deemed vital for her, and it could have' saved her life. She never received it because the clinic was closed without proper planning and attention to detail.

Two physicians, in sworn cited the state's inability to process incoming mail after the closure as a contributing factor to the Oct. 23, 1992, suicide of an inpatient discharged in September. Her new psychiatrist needed, but never received, this patient's records to treat her deteriorating condition. And treatment for virtually all 700 of the clinic's final outpatients stopped for at least six weeks in late 1992, as Wayne State University scrambled to develop its own outpatient program. One psychiatrist informed me and other colleagues that this cessation of treatment directly contributed to a patient's death.

Here are some other important facts about Lafayette Clinic: It was not an overstaffed hospital for was amazea to aiscover mat praca--cally possible to go through college on computer at your own speed. There are obvious drawbacks, and I would never advocate abolishing the classroom experience where real live people can exchange ideas. Still, Johnson has me convinced there is a role for computers in the classroom of the future especially for poor kids. Stay tuned for information highway updates. Next stop is GRTV, a cable access channel in Grand Rapids with a mission: "Empowering the Community With Non-Discriminatorv Access to 37 inpatients.

The clinic was authorized for 81 beds, which would typically treat about 450 persons a year. Until admissions were barred in December 1991, of these beds were filled daily. Final staff and inpatient figures resulted from state officials partially complying with court orders to rebuild staffing, while ignoring similar orders to re-open all beds. The facility treated 1,000 outpatients annually, served as a major training ground for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, and was conducting 90 research projects in 1992. These projects attracted $2 million a year in grants.

Lafayette Clinic's annual net treatment expenditure (the net treatment budget divided by the number of inpatients and outpatients served in a year) was less than $2,500 per patient. Its services, including research beds, have not been replaced. Only 60 Media." Sounds like my kind of station. Keith A. Owens is a Free Press editorial writer.

The Detroit Newspapers Healthcare Career Fair Wednesday, Nov. 9, 1994 1 p.m. 8 p.m. Embassy Suites Hotel, Southfield (1-696 at N.W. Hwy.) Bring Your Resumes! Icarus Huffington and his upwardly mobile Greek Huffington's money can't buy him credibility Arianna Huffington, the cutthroat mystic, is supporting her husband's California effort to become Sen.

Michael Huffington. Their joint campaign has had two strong themes. The first is that government should Admission is FREE! Connect with representatives from nursing and allied health fields. The following facilities will be on hand to interview: Bi-County Hospital Bon Secours Nursing Care Center Botsford Hospital Entech Personnel Services Garden City Hospital Henry Ford Hospital Healthcare and Retirement Corp. (Toledo, OH) Medical Center Hospital (Odessa, TX) Mount Clemens General Hospital Oakland General Hospital Oakwood Hospital Providence Hospital Saratoga Hospital Sierra Medical (El Paso, TX) Sinai Hospital St.

John Health System St. Joseph's Mercy of Macomb St. Joseph Hospital (Ft. Wayne, IN) University of Michigan Hospitals Visiting Nurse Association of Southeast Michigan Wyandotte Hospital Take advantage of the healthcare event of the year the Detroit Newspapers Healthcare Fair. To reserve exhibit space, or for more information, please call Andrew Vogel at (810) 977-7577.

not be allowed to replace the attention people give to their private lives, their families, their charities. The other is that illegal immigrants sap the moral fiber of the state of California by getting something for nothing, destroying the work ethic. That second GARRY WILLS JT nr air- table crops. On the other hand, they wish that this cheap workforce would just volatilize at the end of the harvest season disappear into the air, or be wafted magically back across the border. Now the immigrant workers, exploited before, are being doubly punished, made to suffer for the irresponsibility and exploitation of people such as Wilson and Huffington.

One would hope this issue could sink both candidates. But Huffington is the more vulnerable. After all, Wilson has a political record outside the immigration issue. But Huffington is an overnight creature, the millionaire who came blowing across the state line as rootless as any worker in the cabbage fields. His only recommendation was his willingness to commit one-fourth of his huge estate to electing himself.

Wouldn't it be nice, the day after the election, to see that $40 million had been spent to elect phonies, and had failed? That is the combined sum Huffington and Ollie North are expected to pay in their efforts to buy seats in the Senate. Money can do a lot. But is it sufficient, all by itself, to turn the Senate into a clowns' club? Universal Press Syndicate Huffington. His problem is that he has opposed the encouragement of illegal immigration into California, yet his act is the very thing that draws such immigrants into the state. If citizens were not willing, even eager, to get convenient help from illegal immigrants, the lure of jobs would not exist.

But the Huffingtons' first theme is also undermined by the presence of the nanny in their house. Arianna Huffington has said that one should tend one's own garden, not rely on government to solve problems. But she now says she was too busy with her many responsibilities mainly social and political to pay attention to the background of the woman to whom she committed her children's care in her house. So much for family values. Huffington is not the only hypocrite in the California race.

Pete Wilson, the sitting governor, also has relied heavily on the anti-immigrant proposal. Yet as a senator he pushed legislation that would make it easier for temporary immigrants to be employed in California. What we see in the state is two long-standing attitudes bringing their inevitable yet unforeseen results. On the one hand, Califomians have wanted a quick influx of workers at opportune moments especially at harvest season for the state's lush fruit and vege position has just been undermined by Huffington's admission that he had employed an illegal immigrant for five years. The woman was a nanny for his daughters.

Some people have called this a renewal of the Zoe Baird problem. But that understates the matter. The Zoe Baird problem, which came up in several forms during the early days of the Clinton administration, was that of not paying Social Security for one's help (whether legally or illegally in the country). That is not the main point with hi The Detroit News Cussihhi! communications, inc. when idea an- s.haixil ft.