AS OFFICIAL North Grounds Goodwill Ambassador to this newspaper's readership, it only seems appropriate to alert those in the University community to the arrival of a new neighborhood resident. Located at 2101 Arlington Blvd., this new business stands less than 200 yards away from Barracks Road Shopping Center and around 600 yards down the hill from the Law School. With a welcoming sign reading, "Brown Schools of Virginia, Millmont Center," one might think the business taught mathematics, reading or possibly arc welding to zealous young students. Instead, this new long-term treatment facility deals with a clientele of a different sort: adolescents aged 12 to 21 possessing psychiatric disorders.
Before readers begin to think this story is manufactured as an excuse to keep them away from the Law Grounds, the Law School's own Virginia Law Weekly conducted an in-depth profile of the new facility ("Psychiatric Health Facility Set to Open Next Door," Dec. 1, 2000). All quoted material herein comes from that profile, unless otherwise indicated.
The new psych center is operated by a corporation located in Austin, Texas. The for-profit company, Brown Schools, Inc., owns numerous similar facilities across the country that specialize in physical and mental therapy, with an emphasis on young patients. The Millmont Center will focus entirely on adolescents who have, in the words of national company spokesperson Donna Burtinger, "oppositional defiance [and] explosive disorders." Although indicating that they would not intend to go after certain violent offenders, local representatives could not detail to what extent residents in the facility would pose a danger to those in the surrounding community.
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In addition to emotional control issues - problems linked under the heading Oppositional Defiant Disorder - some patients will "exhibit sexual inappropriateness," in the words of Marketing Director Patty Linear.
In short, the patients at this facility will not be misunderstood, Pippi Longstocking-like youths. They will represent substantially afflicted, potentially dangerous individuals in need of treatment. Obviously, some treatment facility should satisfy that need for treatment. Heck, Law students might even appreciate mental treatment during exam time. However, my concern rests with the location of this center.
By definition, these patients do not interact well with those around them. Given that four residential complexes, a law school, a graduate dormitory and a shopping center all rest within a half a mile from the center, residents of the North Grounds area might have a concern for their own safety.
In response to such concerns, the Brown Schools have made it clear that the facility will be locked, that the patients will be supervised and that the community will not be in danger. Such assurances might make one feel better, if not for past problems. In "Incidents at facility increase concerns," (St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 12, 2000) Alex Leary and Jim Ross detail how two patients escaped from a similar Brown School facility in Florida and stole a car. The story also tells of a 12-year-old patient being charged with battery against a staff member of the clinic.
In examining the Charlottesville facility from the outside, one may be struck at the lack of fencing or any other form of external restraint to prevent a patient who escapes from going anywhere his or her feet lead.
Well, this is a bit disconcerting.
Obviously, the people staying in this facility are likely in serious need of emotional treatment and therapy. Companies like the Brown Schools help provide such capable treatment. My concern lies in the fact that this treatment center rests in as dense an area - in terms of residential and commercial activity - as any in Charlottesville. Presuming these young patients do not wish to remain confined in the treatment center, they likely will make every effort to escape. If any patients manage to walk out of the center, like those patients in Florida, they will only need to traverse 20 to 30 yards to reach an adjacent building, townhouse or apartment. Concern for safety for those living, shopping and attending school seems reasonable and justly warranted.
Perhaps just as fascinating, the Brown School chose such a location for its facility because of the building's prior use as a short-term psychiatric care center. It seems emotionally disturbed youths, an Old Navy and a law school mix well together. To state an obvious point, they don't. Unfortunately, the center has established itself and likely will not move in the near future.
The Brown Schools' Millmont Center would do well, for all parties' interests, to take as many precautions as possible to prevent its patients from leaving.
(Seth Wood's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily.)
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