11 employees on leave at Arkansas adult center after resident dies, DHS says

WARREN, Ark. (KNOE) - The Arkansas Department of Human Services has fired an employee of an adult center and put 11 others on leave after a resident died.

A Southeast Arkansas Human Development Center resident died on Sept. 7 after what the Arkansas DHS calls a “behavioral incident.” DHS says SAHDC staff did not follow protocol and used physical and chemical restraints on the resident.

Documents released by the DHS show the resident had a functional language age equivalent to that of a two-year-old, along with a “severely impaired intellectual functioning level.”

DHS says limited information about the death can be released to protect the resident’s privacy. However, the information the department does have “shows that there were significant issues throughout the handling of this case,”