By DAVE SCHULTZ
Residents of the Hi-Lo subdivision on the city’s west side feel they are bearing a burden of concern and care since the Praxis of Fort Wayne by Landmark Recovery center moved into the area.
Tuesday night, they relayed those thoughts during the meeting of the Bluffton Common Council.
Mayor John Whicker said Landmark Recovery, Praxis’s parent company, will report back to the council during the council’s next meeting March 7.
Praxis, 1529 W. Lancaster St., has been in business since December of 2021 when it took over a building formerly used as a nursing home. While the facility’s neighbors say they are supportive of Praxis’s mission, they feel that it is not doing right by their residents, or those who live nearby, when those residents leave the facility before their treatment is completed.
Their concerns intensified when the body of Celeste Cuthbert, 48, was found earlier this month in the neighborhood. Cuthbert had apparently left the facility on New Year’s Day.
Neighbors spoke of Praxis patients, without outdoor clothing or cell phones, approaching their residences asking for food or shelter or, as was quite often mentioned, to borrow a phone to call someone.
Having strangers approach their houses has proven quite unsettling.
“Things are affecting our home, our grandkids, and children,” said Bill Stoller, who told the council why the 25 or so individuals from the neighborhood were present at Tuesday’s meeting. “Police officers are coming (to Praxis) three, four, or five times a day. People are running around the neighborhood, and some of these people are not very stable, I hate to say.”
Vicki Hilliard, another neighborhood resident, said she answered a knock at her door early in the morning of Jan. 11 thinking it was her husband coming home early from work. It wasn’t.
“My husband and I have had several other encounters with Praxis,” she said.
With residents being placed outside the facility without shelter or transportation, Hilliard said, the facility is not providing basic human needs for its former patients. “Landmark needs to make changes to its discharge policies,” she said.
Stoller followed up those statements with a demand. “They need to change the policies or they need to be shut down,” he said.
Kylie Rolston, who lives a little further away from Praxis than the residents of the Hi-Lo subdivision do, put some context to the discussion. “Praxis is a great thing,” she said, referring to the facility’s mission of addiction recovery, “but what are we going to do for these people?”
Meanwhile, she said, she is reluctant to allow her children to play at Lions Park near her home.
Two employees of Landmark Recovery — Michelle Dubey, the chief clinical officer, and Nicole Carter, the regional vice president of operations — monitored the meeting online. Whicker did not ask them to respond to the comments made during the council meeting, but instead wanted them to speak to all concerned on March 7.
Individual council members wanted to ask some questions and make statements, however. Rick Elwell feels that Praxis has not become what it was represented to be, and Chandler Gerber said he was “mortified” that people do not feel safe in their front yards.
“Time is of the essence,” Josh Hunt said.
Scott Mentzer, the council’s president, had contacted Landmark to see if someone could heard the residents’ concerns. He asked Dubey and Carter what their plans were.
“We’re here listening,” Dubey said. She said they would have a plan ready by March 3.
“My hope is to meet with the chief of police,” Carter said, building a stronger relationship and partnership with the community.
As things stand now, there is a gap to be bridged.
“I’m not here to discredit these facilities,” said Crystal Cortez, another area resident, “but is Bluffton the right choice?”
daves@news-banner.com
