Please note that this post contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward MageeNews.com a small commission – at no extra cost to you.
(I know Lacey and her husband and have met Colby several times. This family needs help. We cannot allow the system to fail them. Please lift the family in your prayers.)
By Lacey Hutchinson, mother
Our 22 year old son, Colby, is nonverbal autistic. He is a part of the home and community based waiver program that receives services through Ellisville State School.
Beginning in October of 2021, Colby began having some serious behavioral issues. This was reported to our support coordinator at Ellisville State School, and she began working on the paperwork. We also began to reach out to Boswell in late December in attempts to have Colby readmitted to this facility. He was taken out of Boswell in October of 2020 after having a bowel obstruction that caused him to spend 28 days in Forrest General Hospital and lose down form 126 pounds to 79 pounds. He came home with a colostomy and was extremely weak. Our family could not return him to Boswell at that time because we felt he was not strong enough. After reaching out to Boswell with the hopes of readmittance, we were told that this would not be possible under the current COVID policies/situation.
It was not until January that we were finally able to meet with CDI out of Richton to begin the task of implementing strategies to help Colby with his behavioral issues. All this time, we were dealing with Colby sleeping approximately 4 hours a night, hurting himself, damaging property, and hurting others. My husband and I carried bruises on a daily basis from his outbursts. Around this time, extra hours were added for behavioral support and additional respite care to his plan of care. Colby’s behavioral issues only continued to worsen.
The self abuse and attacks on family members and support staff became more frequent occurrences and sleep was not improving. We had taken him to our family doctor to try and adjust medications to help with his outbursts and sleep issues with no resolution. We were led to Region 8 and Dr. Maddox in Brandon. We saw Dr. Maddox every 2 weeks beginning in January. Medications were adjusted with little results to improve behavior or help him rest. We continued to work with CDI for behavioral strategies and to reach out to Boswell for possible placement.
The weekend of January 28th proved to be one of the worst weekends for Colby. He was very aggressive towards his sitter to the point that we did not expect her to come back to work that Monday. That week the behavioral issues only continued to escalate. He was now sleeping less than 4 hours a night. We were having to lock him in his room at night for his safety and to allow us to get some rest so that we could continue our jobs as a teacher and survey crew chief. This did little to help the situation. The only sleep we got was when we passed out from pure exhaustion. On Saturday, February 5th Colby’s behaviors were so bad that we had to assist his sitter in her duties. Sunday the 6th was no different.
We started Monday, February 7th on maybe 6 hours of sleep in 48 hours. Colby had such an outburst that Monday morning that his sitter had to get under the table to protect herself from harm.
We both left our jobs and called in family members who were close to go to help her until we could arrive home. Our waiver support coordinator at Ellisville State School was contacted and we were told to call 911 to activate a crisis intervention team. Smith County, where we live, does not have a crisis intervention team, so two deputies were sent out to help de-escalate the situation. Colby became further upset and had to be handcuffed to keep him from hurting himself or others. The deputies did a great job with Colby and we will be forever grateful for the compassion they showed. An ambulance was called and Colby was transported to Magee General Hospital. Medication was given to calm him down (basically knock him out) and our provider worked all day to try and find a psych unit or facility that would take Colby. We do not have an extensive list of all the facilities that were contacted, but we do know that Forrest General Hospital, UMMC, St. Dominic’s, Boswell, and a hospital on the coast all turned Colby down. Yes, TURNED HIM DOWN! Our son was in a crisis. He was a threat to himself and others but could not get psychiatric services in the state of Mississippi.
Due to the high amount of psychiatric meds that Colby was having to be given to remain sedated, the dedicated and compassionate staff at Magee General were running out of options. We were all out of options. No one was willing to help us, and we could not safely take him home. The decision was made to intubate Colby and send him by care flight to Merit Hospital in Vicksburg. We watched with horror and tears streaming down our faces as our nonverbal 22 year-old baby intubated and flown almost 2 hours away just because he needed mental health services.
Today we are beginning our second day on the vent and in the ER at Merit Vicksburg. We have had exceptional care here, but I still cannot believe that we had to go to these extreme measures to get our child mental health services. Needless to say we are exhausted and heartbroken. Our state has failed us. Our nation has failed us.
We just wanted you to know our story, and we are certain that we are not the only family that is suffering with such issues. Remember this face. The face that was let down by Mississippi.
MageeNews.com is an online news source serving Simpson and surrounding counties as well as the State of Mississippi.