Watertown Commission on Disability

from the State House News Service

PATRICK ADMINISTRATION CLOSING KEY DENTAL CLINIC FOR DISABLED (3-15-10)
PATRICK ADMINISTRATION CLOSING KEY DENTAL CLINIC FOR DISABLED

Sparking concerns that large numbers of developmentally disabled people will be left without dental care, the Patrick administration will close the Tufts University Dental Facilities clinic at the Fernald Developmental Center, as of June 30.

The Tufts clinic serves more than 2,000 persons with mental retardation in the Greater Boston area and is the largest facility in the state that provides dental care to patients with special needs.

Tufts officials had apparently tried to head off the closure of the clinic by relocating it to the Massachusetts Hospital School in Canton. But in an email message to the Tufts Community, Tufts University Dental School Dean Lonnie H. Norris said the governor’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year failed to provide any funding for the relocation.

The Tufts clinic serves patients in the Department of Developmental Service’s community-based care system in addition to serving roughly 100 remaining residents of the Fernald Center, which is also slated to be closed as of June 30.

“This is absolutely devastating news, not only for the residents of Fernald, but for thousands of other disabled people, who will now have to fend for themselves in trying to find dental care,” said Marilyn Meagher, president of The Fernald League for the Retarded, Inc. “The doctors, technicians, and nurses at Tufts, had the specialized training and experience needed to treat this very vulnerable group of people.”

Meagher said there is concern that many private dentists will simply refuse to treat persons with mental retardation and complicated medical needs. Residents of Fernald are class members of a landmark consent decree that requires that they receive equal or better care if they are transferred elsewhere. Meagher maintained that the closure of the Tufts clinic raises new questions about the likelihood that Fernald residents will receive equal or better care once Fernald closes.

“If the level of care slips for the Fernald people due to the Tufts Dental clinic closure, you can only imagine how much it will slip for people in the community system who don’t have the protections under the consent decree,” Meagher added.

Darren Drag, director of the Tufts clinic, said in a letter to the clinic staff that the closure of the clinic will result in a downsizing of the university’s dental facilities program. The clinic has served as the “hub of our operations” as well as the “home base” of the university’s General Practice Residency training and its speciality clinics, he said.

“We have done everything possible to avoid this unpleasant outcome with the hope that the state would be able to allocate the necessary funds for our relocation,” Drag stated. “Since it is clear at this time that these funds do not exist, this is unfortunately the ‘worst-case scenario’ that we hoped would not ultimately occur.”