03/29/2024
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To the Editor,

On behalf of my Eastpointe colleagues, I want to address concerns raised by Tocarra Osborne and Marie Smith in their letter “Concerned and Frustrated Parents.”

I want to start by saying to Ms. Osborne and Ms. Smith: We hear you. We understand your frustrations. Thank you for bringing us your concerns and requesting that we meet with the Bladen Parent Advisory Council. We look forward to continuing to work with you to make sure families of special needs children have the necessary resources.

Eastpointe serves those with mental health, substance use, and intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). None of these communities chose the challenges with which they struggle.

Bladen County is stronger when everyone—including families of special needs children—has access to the care they need, when they need it. That is Eastpointe’s mission. We use every means at our disposal to fulfill it for all of our members.

Ms. Osborne and Ms. Smith requested our call center and claims data for autism-related issues. The Eastpointe call center’s role is to screen and quickly connect callers with local resources that can help. It does not assess or diagnose I/DD needs. We have had 50 members with autism-related issues in each of the last two years in Bladen County, with claims exceeding $500,000 each year.

Ms. Osborne and Ms. Smith reached out to providers in our network that are contracted to provide ABA therapy to Bladen residents. They alerted us that they were unable to get the services they needed from these providers. This is not acceptable.

Based on their input, our Network Operations Department immediately began an investigation, which is still on-going. The results will be incorporated into a plan to fix the issue. We’ve also offered contracts to three additional ABA providers to expand service capacity in Bladen.

A big part of the problem with occupational and ABA therapy is that there is a statewide shortage of qualified therapists. Unfortunately, families in all counties, rural and urban alike, are coping with this shortage.

In an effort to avoid service challenges, we also complete an annual Needs and Gaps Assessment, a state-mandated survey in which we solicit feedback from a number of stakeholders, including consumers, families and providers. It helps us identify when, where and why members aren’t getting the care they need. The final report is on our website www.eastpointe.net.

We listen intently to Bladen’s needs. We attend community events nearly every week. We actively monitor our call center results for important trends. Our Area Board has two members from Bladen and our Consumer and Family Advisory Committee (CFAC) has one. This is about the same representation as the other nine counties Eastpointe serves.

To ensure we’re in-sync with special needs families we ask for regular feedback from our CFAC, most of whom have family members with I/DD needs. And we always make the time to meet with concerned parents.

Simply stated: We put our heart and soul into serving Bladen County.

If you have behavioral health questions, complaints, or if you need to be connected to an I/DD Care Coordinator, please call Eastpointe at 1-800-913-6109.

Cheryl Harris

Eastpointe Human Services

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