DHS suspends Ascent’s transport services statewide

DHS suspends Ascent’s transport services statewide

State officials put the brakes on company’s transit vehicles following child’s death in hot van

news@theeveningtimes.com

Stop the bus. That is what state regulators have ordered in the wake of a reckless tragedy that ended in the death of a five-year-old boy abandoned on the transit van at his children’s health treatment center in West Memphis on June 12.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services levied a transportation probation on Ascent Children’s Health Services.

The suspension was placed not only on the West Memphis location, but on all 10 sites Ascent operates within the state. Inspectors found several transport violations at the 413 W. Tyler Cv. location in the city, and cast a broad net of sanctions across the chain for safety’s sake.

According to Captain Joe Baker of the West Memphis Police Department Christopher Gardner was locked inside the van for eight hours. The boy was able to free himself from the car seat he was buckled in but the child safety locks on the door prevented him from exiting the vehicle that he had ridden on for four years. He was hot enough to take off his shirt and a shoe during the day but was found dead at 3:00 p.m.

when the driver Felicia Phillips returned to duty for the afternoon drive home.

Van workers and Ascent staff unloaded the van in the morning but failed to notice Gardner in the van, bypassed checking inside the van on the way to the back seat to shut off the alarm. Instead of following established safety protocol, a worker walked around the outside of the vehicle, opened the back door of the van and reached in to shut the alarm off over the back seat. Gardner was found dead in the back seat.

“This circumvents the entire purpose of having a child alarm on the van,” said Baker.

Triple check protocol was indicated for summer vacation months as a standing policy at Ascent. Police said they did not even look in the windows, and DHS investigators found irregularities with van roster record keeping.

Ascent CEO and State Representative Dan Sullivan of Jonesboro commented after the tragedy, “They did not follow company policies and procedures, and if they had this tragedy never would have happened.”

Felicia Phillips, Lavette Robinson, Wanda Taylor and Kendra Washington were fired from Ascent and charged with Felony Manslaughter. The group appeared before Judge Fred Thorne on Monday and he upheld the $20,000 bond on each of the accused and sent the felony case to circuit court in Marion on July 31. All four bonded out of the Crittenden County Detention Center and walked out of court together.

The wheels on the Ascent buses stop state-wide on June 30. The transportation subcontractor quit as regulators halted service. Southeasttrans of Atlanta terminated with Ascent effective June 30. DHS Assistant Director of Licensing and Accreditation for the Early Childhood Educational Division suspended Ascent transportation as of June 30 and placed the Arkansas company on probation until June 2018. Davis wrote to Sullivan and emphasized compliance with the order: “Any violation of the corrective action agreement or any serious non-compliance with licensing requirements during the probationary provisional time frame could result in action to suspend or revoke the license.”

Griffin also asserted in the letter that Center Director Mandrea Godsey failed to control the daily activities of the center.

By John Rech