From AP, staff sources
The Landmark Recovery facility on Lancaster Street in Bluffton, doing business as Praxis of Fort Wayne, is one of three Landmark facilities that have had their licenses removed by the state of Indiana.
The Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction pulled the licenses of the Praxis operations in Bluffton, Carmel, and Mishawaka, the company said in a statement Thursday.
“We respectfully disagree with this decision and believe it is based on misinformation,” Landmark Recovery said in a statement. “We are working with our legal counsel to explore the next steps including an appeal. In the meantime, we are committed to the well-being of our patients and staff and will work to ensure a safe environment for everyone involved.”
The state action follows three recent deaths at the Mishawaka center and calls by police to pull its license. Also, the company fired the executive director and director of nursing at the Mishawaka center.
The Bluffton facility has also had a change in leadership and operation after neighbors complained about Praxis residents seeking assistance when they left the facility at 1529 Lancaster St. Neighbors were incensed by the death of one of the residents, 48-year-old Celeste Cuthburt of Fort Wayne, who was reported missing on New Year’s Day. Her lifeless body was found in the neighborhood in February.
Bluffton police were regularly called to the Lancaster Street address.
Matt Boyle, Landmark’s founder and CEO, spoke to a meeting of the Bluffton Common Council in March — in front of a roomful of concerned citizens — and vowed things would improve. A new executive director had been appointed and a plan to reform the facility’s operation had been drawn up. That plan, dated March 10, was still on the city’s website Thursday evening
The executive director of the Bluffton facility, Trevor Conger, did not immediately return a call for comment from a News-Banner reporter Thursday night.
Kylie Rolston, a resident of the neighborhood, attended the March meeting of the Common Council where Boyle spoke. She said things had improved, something she attributed at least in part to it being a female-only rehab facility. Prior to the operational reforms, it admitted patients of both sexes.
“I have friends and family who live closer to it than I do, but from what I know, it’s been better,” Rolston said after she heard about the revocation of the facility’s license Thursday night.
At Mishawaka, there have been three deaths at the 160-bed facility there since July 4. There have been 200 police and fire runs to the facility, a figure which includes nine overdoses, two rapes, a sexual assault, and a stabbing, a St. Joseph County Police spokesman said.
Landmark Recovery, a Tennessee-based company that has locations in 10 states, said a national accrediting agency, the Joint Commission, has visited the Mishawaka center that opened last year.
“The full report is not yet available, but the preliminary findings indicate that our care model is sound. We look forward to sharing more in the future,” Landmark Recovery said.
———
Local reporting by Dave Schultz and Sydney Kent.
