It is only 44 this morning and very windy.
I think the videos I have been watching of the tsunami in Japan have been causing me some bizarre water related nightmares. Every morning the news out of Japan seems to be worse than the morning before.
Total switch of subject from a Mother Nature disaster to a man made one.
I keep getting blog comments regarding the MHMR-Gate Scandal. This has been going on for several weeks now. A strange pattern has emerged with the comments. The pro-Paradise Center comments have been articulate, level-headed and well-written.
While the anti-Paradise Center, pro-MHMR and its CEO Jim McDermott comments have been mean-spirited, vitriolic, inarticulate, badly written and sort of nonsensical.
Like the comment I got this morning from the Ubiquitous Anonymous to the blog post titled "County Commission Gal Explains Fort Worth's MHMR-Gate Scandal In Detail....."
I agree with the short tv report on WFAA two weeks ago that a disgruntled employee and a few followers was picketing outside Paradise Center. Anon I agree that Fort Worth Star Telegram does not find this news worth reporting. The clients are not suffering. Ther are having fun with new staff and new peer leadership. Sebrina and Dale are back from Teresas little group. Paul is back and back to ordering supplies. Lynn has condensed alot of the paperwork to a smoother running center. Two of the male clients volunteered to keep the four bathrooms clean on a daily basis. Time to move on like the clients have.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has shrunk back so deeply that it really does not function as a real newspaper anymore, leaving a town with a population over 700,000 with no real newspaper of record.
Let me see if I can sum up a short version of my understanding of the MHMR-Gate Scandal.
MHMR CEO, Jim McDermott and his staff came up with a scheme to use the Paradise Center to generate revenue. The woman who ran the Paradise Center, Teresa Davis, refused to agree to things she knew to not be true. Ms. Davis was then fired, with the reason given that she failed to attend a meeting.
At the same time Ms. Davis was fired, MHMR locked up the Paradise Center, denying Ms. Davis and her staff entry.
Inside the Paradise Center building were a lot of possessions of the Paradise Center which did not belong to Tarrant County MHMR.
Eventually, after complaints and protests. MHMR removed the Paradise Center possessions to a POD storage container.
The actions of MHMR was a major disruption for a lot of people who depended on the Paradise Center.
There is a lot more to this scandal than my short version. To me it is sort of like the Watergate coverup. The fact that Tarrant County officials seem to have done nothing to rectify this wrong, just adds to the scandal.
Four peer leaders and Teresa Davis are sittng at a restaurant, reading your blog for the first time. We have many thoughts. From Miss Serena: I do not appreciate the opinion of the person that wrote about me. My name is Serena, not Sebrina. And I am not 'back' at that Center. I have been there, but to wait for a doctor appointment only. I am hurt by the way MHMR has treated the peer leaders and Teresa. In the future, if Anonymous or anyone else wants to blog about me, they should talk to me first. Don't assume. Also, it infuriates me that some of the workers that are down there now are talking bad about Teresa and saying she got fired and they don't know the facts. Teresaa wasn't just terminated. Paradise Center was kicked out. Apparently MHMR thinks the paid professional staff can run a better Consumer Run Organization than we can. And its SERENA, not Sebrina. From Dale:. I've been twice, to see my caseworker and to do my laundry. I am not 'back' with that group. MHMR has gone insane! They
ReplyDeleteMr. Durango,
ReplyDeleteCould we suggest that you, if feasible, combine all the various postings and comments about this foul smelling scandal in one section or something like that so that we and the public could examine more closely this major scandal?
I'm a very troubled--by what I've seen and heard-- employee of MHMR on my day off and using my own computer and internet connection. My colleagues cannot get past all the secrecy and the new "controls" being imposed on us free Americans regarding this rotten mess created by some arrogant people who think they're our King and rulers.
Most MHMR employees are good decent human beings and Americans, so please keep in mind that this scandal involves mainly the big shots who get the big compensation packages and perks, including their fancy titles and cushy offices fit for executives at some major corporation.
Most of us office out of tiny cubicles (and even our cars)and we work IN the community, from the clinics in old buildings to street outreach on the E. Lancaster Homeless District.
We see our work as a service or a mission and more than just a paycheck source, just like Ms. Davis, who we had voted as one of the earliest recipients of the presigious Stetson Award, one given by the many regular employees who work WITH the people with special needs and not those inside comfortable offices inside that high priced Hulen Tower-- we still can't figure how they pay for that AND how they can put the clients in beat up old facilities.
Most of us are hard working and honest people, something we see lacking often in our executives and leadership, especially during this whole shameful scheme with Bravo Health Medicaid HMO for elderly and disabled people (STAR+PLUS).
Keep going because you are ON TO SOMETHING ROTTEN. WE SMELL IT AND ARE GETTING SICK AND TIRED OF IT.
Thank you.
DALE CONTINUED:. They only care about financial gain! From N.: to whom it may concern: I have dedicated over 10 years volunteering at first Opportunity House then Paradise Center. When we moved from Oppotunity house, we were supposed to have the big clinic building that mhmr is in at 300 Pennsylvania. We were given the much smaller building, though, and it was made a separate non-profit and called Paradise Center. First I was a member then I became a peer leader on the board. We were the one who dedicated ourselves by running the center and helping the members function where they can be people who live in the community. On the day Teresa Davis got a note saying she was terminated, I was there washing my clothes we had to get out. I had to finish my laundry at a friends house. After we left, they changed the locks on all the doors and took away the keys we had, with all of paradise center's possessions locked up. When we went back the next day, MHMR executives would not let us in.
ReplyDeleteTo finish my comment, I want to say that we were treated like common criminals. They had Teresa Davis on her knees on the concrete writing a list of our possessions that we wanted. If only the head man, Dr. MCdermott, would have had the decency to come talk to us consumers, maybe things would have worked out differently. We want to know why they kicked Paradise Center out of our home and why they fired Teresa Davis. She did not get the recognition and the respect that she deserves. You will never find another person like Teresa Davis. She gave up her family time to help us. That's how she dedicated herself to Paradise Center. Some of the members that she helped are still going to the building and do not appreciate what she did for them. We hope MHMR's satisfied and their conscience is clear on the decision that they made. Good luck. From peer leader, N.
ReplyDeleteI have been mostly silent in the past month. I am not yet ready to have all the details of the six months leading up to my termination publicized. But I do want to make one fact very clear. I wasn't just terminated. The entire non-profit organization, its volunteers, programs, and possessions were kicked out. MHMR thinks they can trick the mental health consumers. 'Its the same building. Look, we use the same activity calendar! There is even the same former part time Paradise Center staff still here.'. But mental illness doesn't make a person ignorant. They know there is a difference. Time will show that MH professionals in that building, who I have known and respected for years, cannot recreate a consumer-run organization. They are not consumers. The peer support that Paradise Center provided is not the same as an when an MH professional gives advice. This is a huge step backwards for the consumer movement in Texas. So, the peer leaders who are loyal to the mission of Paradise Center, the Board
ReplyDeleteTo continue, So, the peer leaders who are loyal to the mission of Paradise Center, the Board of Directors, and I are looking forward to the future. We hope the members can continue to find support until we are able to open our doors once again. N. has asked me to write one more sentence: It isn't over until the fat lady sings...and she's warming up now! We're all laughing at that comment. Thanks for providing an outlet.
ReplyDeleteA fool and her band of nut cases. Who are you going to believe, this lowly reject or the CEO with a PhD running MHMR for over 22 years?
ReplyDeleteWho can you trust, this group of losers or the winners in complete control now? A.K.A. Lynn'$ BRAVO Company. Hu-ahh.
Go here for a better place for the Paradise MHMR-Gate Scandal commenting discussion...
ReplyDeleteparadise-center-scandal.blogspot.com