DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997                TAG: 9704200047

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY AND JON FRANK, STAFF WRITERS 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:  106 lines

PORTSMOUTH YOUTH CENTER IS CITED FOR ``DEFICIENCY'' THE PINES CRITICIZED FOR UNDOCUMENTED TRANSFERS

State officials have cited The Pines Residential Treatment Center for a defect in its operation because of its recurring failure to document the transfer of residents across state lines.

In an April 3 letter, licensing investigators said The Pines had shown ``a systemic deficiency'' because of a pattern of failing to honor a compact that requires prior approval for transferring residents from other states.

The incident that apparently triggered the citation was the transfer of several residents to The Pines from an affiliated treatment center in Arizona last summer. An interstate compact requires that the state grant prior approval of such transfers.

The Department of Mental Health, which licenses The Pines, threatened to impose stricter licensing requirements if the center doesn't fix the ``systemic deficiency.''

``Based on the seriousness and number of violations . . . this citation . manager with the office of licensure under the state Department of Mental Health. ``It is the expectation that there will be no further admissions of clients prior to approval by Interstate Compact and that the form with the approval signature will be placed in the residential records upon admission.''

The Pines has been cited for violating the same compact at least two other times since 1993, state officials said.

George Boothby, administrator of The Pines, said that the center has until April 29 to file a written response, and that he expects documentation will satisfy all the issues raised by state officials.

``I don't think it is a systemic problem for us,'' Boothby said. ``It is inaccurate and will be dispelled with documents that we will be providing them.''

Boothby, who has been administrator for about nine months, acknowledged that there was a problem with documentation in the transfer of youths to Portsmouth after The Pines' Tucson, Ariz., program closed last summer.

``The transfer of the kids, that was a mistake,'' he said. ``I don't know how it happened. But we're looking into it to see that it doesn't happen again.''

This is the first time in its 10 years of operation that The Pines has been cited for a ``systemic deficiency,'' defined by the state as ``violations documented by a regulator which indicate defects in the overall operation of the facility.''

The Department of Mental Health issued at most ``a handful'' of findings of ``systemic deficiencies'' in the past year for the 49 licensed residential facilities that treat youths, according to a state official.

The warning from the state is the latest in a series of problems for The Pines - which has a national reputation for treating youths with severe sexual dysfunction and behavioral problems - and its parent company, First Hospital Corp.

Last month, First Corrections Corp., owned by First Hospital, dropped plans to build a residential center for juvenile offenders on the Brighton campus of The Pines after the escape of two youths from a temporary program near DePaul Medical Center in Norfolk prompted a public outcry.

The Virginian-Pilot reported earlier this year that in 1995, residents ran away from The Pines at the rate of nearly one every five days. In 1996, that number dropped to about one every eight days, according to statistics recently provided by the Portsmouth Police Department.

In the past few years, at least five residents or former residents of The Pines have been accused of violent crimes in Hampton Roads.

Also, the Tucson campus of The Pines was forced to close last summer after a riot that resulted in at least eight arrests. It was the transfer of residents from that facility that triggered the criticism from the state.

The riot at the Tucson facility occurred about three weeks before the lease for the 32-bed facility was to expire.

Boothby said state licensing officials have visited the two Portsmouth campuses of The Pines four or five times since he has been administrator. There have been no other findings of ``systemic deficiencies'' during that time, he said.

``I find it concerning, and we are going to address it,'' he said. ``If there has been some mistake regarding that, we are not going to keep making them. It is that simple.''

The first action the state would take if ``appropriate and timely corrective action'' is not taken would be to issue The Pines a one-year license instead of the current three-year license.

State licensing officials can take more extreme action in any case they deem necessary. Such action could include a written warning that a license is in jeopardy, issuing a provisional license or denying a license when it is to be renewed.

Boothby said a change in the licensing status ``would mean that we have to do more paperwork and more preparation for visits'' and would mean additional work for staffers and administrators.

The state makes periodic visits to The Pines and other juvenile residential facilities. When problems are found, the state can follow up with written citations that require corrective action.

In the April 3 letter to The Pines, the state also criticized the center for using residents to do work they would ordinarily pay people to do and for their supervision of residents during trips into the community.

In separate letters, the state also cited The Pines for abusive actions against residents on three occasions.

In one instance, a resident's thumb was bruised when a staff member restrained the resident. In another, a nurse choked a resident who was misbehaving while he was restrained. In the third incident, a staff member supplied three cards and three letters with sexually explicit writings to a resident. That staff member was terminated. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

PINES WOES

Plan for residential center in Portsmouth dropped.

Two youths escape program in Norfolk.

In 1996, residents ran away at rate of about one every eight

days.

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