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Joe Molino: When I first came to the Rideau Regional I came as an intern from Montreal, and it was having had little or no experience in the field. It was an eye-opener and I fell in love. I fell in love with the whole field. I fell in love with people like Elwood and others because many of them were so full of life and we were young and they were young. And it was genuinely fun. It was very rewarding.
I think part of the reason it was rewarding is that Rideau Regional at that time, even though it was large and perhaps large and overcrowded, it still was a community. And it was a caring community…All the years that I've worked with Elwood and others, the obvious thing is that they're like you and I. They're basically people who have hopes and dreams and joys and frustrations like you and I do.
Elwood was always a very cheerful individual, even when you know, he'd be frustrated for a while, he seemed to be able to shake things off. The thing that always struck with me is the courage that Elwood had, the conviction, the determination. Just a really, really likeable at that time young man with a heart of gold.
fifth estate producer Diane Ngui-Yen: WHAT WAS HE LIKE WHEN HE WAS LIVING AT THE RIDEAU REGIONAL?
Joe Molino: Elwood isn't a lot different now than
he was years ago. Elwood has always been Elwood. A really determined
fellow who has his mind set on things and he just goes after it.
Elwood makes contact with people. He needs people. He's always
needed people and he seeks them out. Very determined. Very determined
and also very honest, an honest individual.
fifth estate producer Diane Ngui-Yen: WHAT PRECIPITATED HIM LEAVING FINALLY IN 1990 AND GOING OFF TO LIVE IN THE COMMUNITY?
Joe Molino: A lot of individuals like Elwood when they came to Rideau it was largely because their families didn't have the resources and the supports they needed to be able to care for them in the community. Their needs were quite high. Places like Rideau were set up to provide a lot of those pretty extensive needs. What started to happen is as services and resources started to develop in the community and start to be present, then it became much more realistic to look at these kinds of placements. So a lot of the work that Elwood underwent was to develop the skills he needed to live in a community.
fifth estate producer Diane Ngui-Yen: WHAT KIND OF CONVERSATIONS WOULD YOU HAVE BEFORE HE LEFT? WHAT WAS HE FOCUSED ON?
Joe Molino: Well, his conversations would really focus on his desire to go. But, again, Elwood was realistic enough to know that he needed support, he needed help. Where was this going to happen? Elwood also had always voiced his intention to live nearby Rideau because he felt that Rideau was to a large extent his family as well -- his extended family. He had very, very close ties with a number of individuals, both clients within Rideau as well as staff who worked within Rideau. And in fact Elwood has maintained that. Elwood still goes to the Regional a couple of times a week. And has very, very close ties there.
He would talk about whether he could come back to visit, he would talk about who's going to be there to help me do this? And what if I need my crutches fixed, can I come back here, or my wheelchair or whatever? So, Elwood had a lot of those kinds of questions and understandably so. Elwood was always very in touch with his life and to a certain extent his needs.
fifth estate producer Diane Ngui-Yen: WHEN HE LEFT THE RIDEAU REGIONAL DID YOU NOTICE HIM WALKING UP AND DOWN THE STREETS OF SMITHS FALLS?
Joe Molino: Yeah, for years. You see him pretty well all the seasons of the year. You'll see him in the snow blizzard, you know, kind of making his way down ... down one of the main streets in Smiths Falls. I mean even as he's gotten older, this is a man who's determined. He's on a mission and weather doesn't deter him and I don't think anything does.
fifth estate producer Diane Ngui-Yen: WHEN YOU STARTED AT RIDEAU REGIONAL IN THE 70's WHAT WAS YOUR FOCUS? WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO DO?
Joe Molino: When I first started at the Rideau
Regional it was very different conditions. There were far more residents,
it was under a different ministry. It was under the Ministry of
Health. The approach was quite different. The kind of a mindset
of the time in the late sixties, early seventies was that these
individuals were sick and so Rideau Regional was called Rideau Regional
Hospital School. The idea being that like any hospital when you're
sick you go there.
The mindset was changing at that time. It has
changed in some countries and it was rapidly changing in Ontario.
And certainly in the early seventies you started to see this movement
away from the view of mental retardation as an illness. And you
started talking about developmental disabilities. The whole idea
that these individuals were developing as you and I developed and
there was kind of a delay in the development or a snag. And the
focus was not on making them well, the focus was on helping them
to develop to the maximum potential. To provide them with the supports
they need so that they could live as independently as they could.
And they could have the quality of life which they and all of us
are entitled to.
So the focus shifted to one of caring to one of support and training.
fifth estate producer Diane Ngui-Yen: WHAT CHALLENGES DO PEOPLE FACE ONCE THEY LEAVE THE RIDEAU REGIONAL TO BE PLACED IN THE COMMUNITY?
Joe Molino: The challenges in my opinion, the challenges really have changed. When we first started placing a lot of individuals before Elwood, one of the biggest challenges was acceptance from communities. In the years I've been involved in moving individuals, there were a lot of communities that were very resistant. That didn't want a group home built in their community, next to them, on their street.
A lot of it was misinformation or ignorance. A lot of communities basically thought that people with a developmental disability were by nature dangerous and I know very few of them that are dangerous…certainly Elwood and others are an excellent example of quite the opposite.
There was also ignorance in the sense of how do we interact with somebody like this? What do I say to them and what do I do? So a lot of work had to be done and was done in terms of informing communities and again, over the years I can recall a number of times where we were a part of community hall meetings where people came together and got opportunities to ask questions and were given information which would alleviate a lot of their fears and concerns and help them in terms of to open up their community. A number of years ago that was much more of an obstacle.
What continued to be an obstacle and I dare say it's still an obstacle today is the whole issue of supports. Say what you will of facilities like Rideau Regional but they do have tremendous, tremendous clinical and expertise supports. An example would be that if you have a physician on staff 24 hours a day. You've got nurses that are within less than a minute, they're seconds away from an individual. You've got specialists that they have access to on a regular basis, which is wonderful. You and I have access to specialists as well but again some of the changes that are occurring now in the communities that you and I live in is that it's getting harder and harder to find a medical doctor if you lose one. Harder and harder to find perhaps a dentist. So one of the difficulties that continues or the challenges is finding supports that are needed for individuals with a developmental disability. Just as it is for finding supports for our own children or you know, looking for the right school or the proper pediatrician. Those continue to be the challenges.
Fortunately a lot of money, a lot of energy has gone into building proper supports. I'm encouraged all the time when I hear of new endeavours by the Ministry, by the provincial government in terms of ... and recently they talked about making monies available to colleges and universities to train psychologists, to train psychiatrists, to train clinicians who have expertise in the field of developmental disabilities. Right now there are very few universities in Ontario, Canada, that have programs that provide training for instance – for psychologists. There are a few but not very many. And it is a specialized field and a lot of students when they're going through to studying psychology don't receive a lot of training in developmental disabilities and understanding how to assess persons, children, adults, adolescents who have a developmental disability. So there's a need and that continues to be a gap that needs to be addressed.
fifth estate producer Diane Ngui-Yen: HOW YOU SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW WITH THE REMAINING PEOPLE, THE MOST VULNERABLE IT SEEMS, WHO ARE STILL AT THE RIDEAU REGIONAL BUT WILL HAVE TO LEAVE?
Joe Molino: It's both an exciting time and a troubling time. I think Ontario should be very proud. I think they've provided excellent opportunities, excellent support and care for persons with a developmental disabilities. Both within their institutional settings. Places like Rideau Regional have provided in my opinion – I worked there for thirty years -- excellent, excellent care.
Rideau Regional also provided an excellent training ground for clinicians. I became a psychologist there with expertise through a lot of training at the Rideau Regional and many other individuals, whether they be medical practitioners or psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists the same way.
Ontario also has provided excellent support in communities, so you know, a lot of energy and a lot of effort has gone into building excellent group homes and community supports.
The challenge is that I have the sense that everybody wants the same thing. Everybody wants the best care, the best support for these men and women who are moving from one setting to another. Part of the challenge has been that the families and some of the individuals themselves are saying one thing and the fear is that they'll get pulled in against their will to where they don't want to go.
And, you know, this has gone to the courts and as you are aware, the decision has come down and I think it's a very just decision. I think the families need to have a lot of input and the law tells them that they have that right to advocate for their brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. And that some individuals need more time to come to the decision in terms of where they will live and how they will live and who they will live with. You can't have a quick and simple solution for everybody. You can't say – well, it's going to take approximately two weeks or two months to place each individual.
Some individuals can be placed quite quickly. They want to go, their families want them to go. They know where they want them to go. The place that they're going to has tremendous insight into their needs and can meet their needs.
Other individuals are a little bit more reluctant and so it's going to take, it's going to take longer.