State's rescue plan pleases Cottonwood staffers, parents

The weekend news of a plan to save Cottonwood Children's Residential Treatment Center in Cape Girardeau is being met with relief from the staff and jubilation from the parents of the residents there.

"We're just thrilled," said director Martha Cassell. "Things are looking up, and it's good to be back in the budget."

The funding worked out by state Rep. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, state Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, and Gov. Bob Holden means that some 85 staff members will keep their jobs, and the residents will continue to get their much-needed treatment at the 32-bed facility.

Sixteen beds were going to be set aside for some of the Cottonwood residents at Farmington, and the remainder who had not already been discharged were scheduled to receive temporary service until another placement could be found for them.

For Bonita Nowland of Steelville, that means her 14-year-old daughter will continue to receive the treatment that has brought about some improvement over the year she has been there. Nowland said her understanding was that the funding was for one year only, and she emphasized that funding needs to go beyond that.

"It's a good place," she said. "They do help those children out. If they keep closing these places they're going to have to build bigger prisons later on. Some of these kids are really troubled. They are our future, these children. If we don't get them help now, they will never get it."

Anita Kohlfeld of St. Louis said she was thrilled with the news.

"My daughter was there 10 months," she said. "The change in her was startling after her stay there.

"You do all you can at the home environment, but without a place like Cottonwood these children would not make it."

Kohlfeld's daughter, now 17, is home now, and has good days and bad days. Kohlfeld credits the treatment her daughter received at Cottonwood for her being able to cope with her illness.

"So many programs are cut and dried," she said. "It's just not always like that when you have kids with mental illness. We really need ways of working with kids and helping them instead of working against them."

'Means the world to me'

Tami Binkard of Cape Girardeau moved here so she could get her 15-year-old son into Cottonwood.

"It means the world to me," she said of the funding news. "If it weren't for Cottonwood my son would probably be a statistic, end up being in foster care or worse. For me it's the difference between life and death."

Binkard's son is autistic and is one of the more acute cases at Cottonwood. He was one of the patients scheduled to go to Farmington had Cottonwood closed.

"It was breaking my heart," Binkard said. "It was making no sense. They were talking about the community absorbing the rest of the kids. They can't go back in society. That's the reason they're where they're at."

Binkard said she was grateful also because the people at Cottonwood would able to keep their jobs.

"The people at Cottonwood are like an extended family to our kids," said Binkard, who has two other sons and a daughter. "They are there for the birthdays, they're there for the tears, they're there for everything."

Cassell said she was grateful for the community support for Cottonwood as well as for the effort the governor and the legislature, along with the Department of Mental Health, made to keep it open.

"It's wonderful to see everybody come together and to see the support we have received," she said.

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160