Shelter challenges ‘dumped’ tale by mentally ill man
A mentally ill man who said he was bused to Sacramento, Calif., against his will by a Nevada state psychiatric hospital repeatedly expressed a desire to leave Las Vegas and live in either Northern Nevada or Northern California, homeless shelter managers who knew him here said Friday.
James F. Brown spent time on the computer at the library researching where he could find a small town where he would feel more comfortable, said Jimmy Rolson, shelter operations supervisor at Catholic Charities.
“He said he was a Southern bumpkin,” Rolson said. “He kept saying, ‘When I get paid, I’m going.’ He never mentioned Sacramento, but he said he wanted to go to Northern Nevada or Northern California.”
Because the case is under investigation, Mary Woods, spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Health and Human Resources, said she couldn’t comment on Brown’s stated desire to travel to Northern California, which contradicts what he told homeless advocates after he arrived Feb. 12 in Sacramento.
Woods confirmed the federal government through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is investigating Brown’s case after California officials accused the Silver State of dumping him.
Woods said Nevada requested the investigation itself, before California Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, last Monday, suggesting an investigation.
Nevada health officials are investigating the matter with both external and internal probes to determine whether discharge policies were correctly followed. The investigation is expected to last as long as a month.
State policy allows for transportation of discharged psychiatric patients outside of Nevada if the plan includes housing or shelter and a support system at the destination.
In this case, the 48-year-old Brown told the Sacramento charity Loaves & Fishes that the Nevada psychiatric hospital forced him to go to Sacramento. He said he didn’t know anyone in the city and had never been there.
Brown also told Loaves & Fishes the Nevada hospital told him to call an ambulance once he arrived so that he would be taken to an emergency room and then admitted to a mental hospital.
Brown’s Feb. 11 Southern Nevada Adult Mental Services discharge papers, copied by Loaves & Fishes, doesn’t say that. Nor is there any detail about who or what organization might help him in Sacramento. It did include a Greyhound bus voucher to the city.
“Discharge to Greyhound bus station by taxi, with 3 day supply of medication,” the handwritten instructions read. “Follow up with mental health, NA (Narcotics Anonymous) meeting in California. Follow up with medical doctor in California for any medical concerns.”
The discharge papers list three daily medications to treat schizophrenia, anxiety and depression.
It’s unknown whether there’s more to Brown’s discharge plan than what was revealed in the paperwork given to him — the key question the investigation is aiming to answer. Brown since has disappeared.
“All we’re really able to say is that it is our policy to have someone on the other end to receive the client,” said Woods. “That’s part of the discharge plan and the discharge policy.”
HOLES IN HIS STORY
Sending patients across state lines is relatively rare, according to Nevada statistics Woods released.
The Rawson-Neal psychiatric hospital, which released Brown, had discharged 4,001 patients from July through December of 2012. Of those, 82 were transported to California, including 66 who were California residents with some sort of identification or medical card proving it, Woods said.
Other parts of Brown’s story don’t add up. He told Loaves & Fishes he had been living in a group home, Annie’s Place in Las Vegas, for the past two years, but it closed. He said that he and his roommates were taken several weeks ago to the state mental hospital and that his four roommates also were bused out of state.
Homeless advocates in Las Vegas said they don’t know of any Annie’s Place group home for the mentally ill. There was an Annie’s Place at 900 Campbell Drive that housed senior citizens, but the six-bedroom home was sold to a family in August 2010 and became a private residence.
Catholic Charities said Brown first showed up at the Las Vegas men’s overnight shelter in January 2012. He listed his home state as South Carolina and he spoke with a strong Southern accent.
He told Rolson, a shelter supervisor, that he was tricked into traveling to Las Vegas. He said he was living in a field when he met the two men who suggested, “Let’s go to Vegas.” On arrival, they dropped him off at the shelter with no money, he told Catholic Charities.
“They took advantage of him,” Rolson said.
Jodie Goldberg, the shelter operations manager, said Brown’s medication was stolen on his first night in Las Vegas.
Many homeless people get Social Security disability, veterans benefits or other monthly government checks, and medication. As a result, they’re vulnerable to scam artists, according to homeless advocates.
Brown slept at Catholic Charities for a few months, Rolson said. But he also was placed in at least two group homes for the mentally ill. He wasn’t happy in the homes and returned to the nightly shelter, the managers said.
Brown also was admitted on occasion to the psychiatric hospital, although it’s unclear when or exactly why.
Where he is now is a mystery.
Catholic Charities hasn’t heard from him since he was bused to Sacramento, although he apparently has a free cellphone, something that is often given to the poor and homeless.
Asked whether Rolson believes Brown is doing all right on his own, he said, “I can’t imagine him not being OK.
“When he was here he was well-behaved, but he was timid,” Rolson said.
Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Follow @lmyerslvrj on Twitter.
