Ascent to close West Memphis, 2 other locations

Ascent to close West Memphis, 2 other locations

Children’s Health Service where child left in van dies will shut down Oct. 17, hundreds affected by closure

news@theeveningtimes.com

AWest Memphis facility at the center of the death of a special needs child is closing.

Ascent Children’s Health Services, located at 413 W.

Tyler, is one of three Ascent facilities slated to shut its doors next month. According to a Department of Human Services news release, Ascent Children’s Health Services has notified DHS that it plans to close the West Memphis location, as well as the company’s Arkadelphia and North Little Rock sites effective Oct. 17.

While these three locations currently provide Medicaid- funded services through the Early Intervention Day Treatment program and the Outpatient Behavioral Health program, the West Memphis location was the subject of an investigation last June after a 5-year-old boy died after being left in an Ascent transport van on a hot day.

Christopher Gardner Jr.

was found dead on the afternoon of June 12, 2017, after apparently being left in an Ascent Children’s Health Services transport van all day, a day in which the outside temperature was above 90 degrees when emergency responders arrived to the scene that afternoon. The interior of the van would have been approximately 140 degrees according to expert data.

Four Ascent workers were terminated over the incident. The van was reportedly not thoroughly inspected after arrival at Ascent’s West Memphis facility, and Christopher was listed as “checked in” on the registry inside, even though he was apparently still in the van for more than eight hours, eventually succumbing to the dangerously hot environment.

Bus driver Felicia Phillips, 42; transportation chaperone Pamela Robinson, 43; transport supervisor Wanda Taylor, 43; and Ascent van safety director Kendra Washington, 40; were all charged with manslaughter in the child’s death. That case is still working its way through the courts.

According to DHS, the closure will not change or disrupt a child’s eligibility to remain in the EIDT program, even if the child was grandfathered in when EIDT launched earlier this year.

To ensure that Medicaid beneficiaries can continue to access services, DHS will be sending beneficiaries a list of licensed Medicaid providers in their areas from which they can choose. DHS will be working closely with Ascent to ensure the transition for beneficiaries to a new provider is as smooth as possible. When the Ascent facility in Arkadelphia closes, the DHS Division of Developmental Disabilities Services (DDS) has determined that Clark County will have no other active EIDT providers. The DHS Division of Provider Services and Quality Assurance will work to identify existing Arkansas providers that may be willing to begin providing services in that county.

More than 400 children will be directly affected by the closures, including 189 currently receiving services at the West Memphis facility. The number of Medicaid beneficiaries in Arkadelphia is 67, with an additional 152 in North Little Rock.

“Beneficiaries may ask for assistance by calling the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC) Medicaid Beneficiary Service Center at 1-833-4020672,” said Amy Webb, Arkansas Department of Human Services Office of Communications and Community Engagement, Chief of Communications and Community Engagement.

The hours to call in are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. If the beneficiary is a member of a PASSE, he or she should contact his or her care coordinator for assistance.

“For families who were receiving child care services at one of these three facilities, you may qualify for child care assistance,” said Webb. “Go to www.access. arkansas.gov , answer the voter registration question, and then click on the light blue log-in/apply button for child care assistance.”

By Ralph Hardin