Ascent to shut 3 care centers in Arkansas in next month

Official: Eligibility for aid program won’t be affected

More than 400 children with special developmental or medical needs must now find new therapeutic day care programs after Ascent Children's Health Services announced it is closing the doors of three of its facilities on Oct. 17.

The care of children at the closing centers -- located in Arkadelphia, North Little Rock and West Memphis -- was funded by Medicaid under the state's new Early Intervention Day Treatment program and the Outpatient Behavioral Health Program.

"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," said Amy Webb, a spokesman with the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

Multiple calls to the corporate office of Ascent Children's Health Services were unanswered Thursday afternoon.

Webb said in an email that she understood the closures were a "voluntary business decision."

Ascent Children's Health Services, which was founded in 1988, operates 10 facilities across the state. Its website says the company "is the largest and most comprehensive provider of its type of services in Arkansas."

The facilities provide outpatient occupational therapy, physical rehabilitation, speech and language therapy and mental health services to children with developmental disabilities, including autism, Down syndrome or cerebral palsy.

Two of the facilities that are closing were in the news last year over incidents involving children. On June 12, 2017, 5-year-old Christopher Gardner died after he was left in a van at the company's West Memphis facility. In late July 2017, a child at the North Little Rock facility was left unattended outside.

Both facilities were placed on a one-year probation status by the state.

A 2017 investigation by the state Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education showed lifesaving alarm systems meant to prevent children from being left in hot day care vans were found inoperable, disabled or otherwise flawed in Ascent Children's Health Services locations throughout the state.

The Arkadelphia facility had several incidents last year with children being improperly handled by the staff, resulting in caregivers being fired after two incidents and behavior guidance training for the staff after a third instance, according to Marci Manley, another spokesman for Human Services.

Webb said the state Department of Human Services will be sending a list of licensed Medicaid providers to the parents of children served at the closing centers.

"DHS will be working closely with Ascent to ensure the transition for beneficiaries to a new provider is as smooth as possible," Webb said.

When the Arkadelphia center closes, Clark County will have no other Early Intervention Day Treatment providers. Webb said the state Division of Provider Services and Quality Assurance is working to find existing providers that may be willing to provide services there.

Manley said Ascent was notifying families and beneficiaries and posting signs about the pending closures.

But Renee Johns of Marion said she had yet to be notified by the staff at Ascent's West Memphis facility where her 4-year-old son Jacob receives daily care.

"My other kids go to after-school day care and they informed me," Johns said. "The bus driver told them. Otherwise I wouldn't know at all."

As a single mother, the closure has spun her life into turmoil, Johns said. Jacob was placed in her care as a foster child when he was only 5 days old. She adopted him in 2015.

Jacob has attended the West Memphis facility for the past two and a half years.

"I put him in Ascent because he had developmental delays as a result of being a drug-addicted preemie," Johns said.

When she contacted the facility Thursday morning, she was told to contact the company's Jonesboro facility.

"I'm an hour away from Jonesboro," she said. "I work in Memphis so it's hard to coordinate all this and work too."

After making numerous phone calls all morning, Johns was able to enroll Jacob in Kids for the Future in West Memphis, a therapeutic day clinic for developmentally delayed children.

"There were a lot of steps involved. I am worried that someone who doesn't know the process will give up and children will go without services," Johns said. "At this point people don't even know to look because no one has been informed."

Families of children being served at any of the closing centers may qualify for child care assistance from the state, Webb said.

The state's Early Intervention Day Treatment program kicked off this summer after two therapeutic preschool programs, known as Child Health Management Services and Developmental Day Treatment Clinic Services, were combined.

The program serves about 17,000 children in the state, Manley said.

Metro on 09/21/2018

Upcoming Events