A Maple Shade mom wants hospitals to create waiting rooms and treatment spaces designed to accommodate patients with autism and other disabilities experiencing a mental health crisis.







MAPLE SHADE — Jaime Trabbold is under a deadline.

In 2018, her 9-year-old son, Ronnie, spent six days in a South Jersey emergency department raging and in the midst of a suicidal crisis. Diagnosed with autism and bipolar disorder, Ronnie was sedated with medications every six hours while waiting for an appropriate treatment facility.

No hospital in the state could provide proper care for Ronnie, the family was told. So they waited in a plain white cubicle with a bed, a bathroom and little else, until a treatment bed opened at an in-patient facility in Pennsylvania.

"We were in a true state of emergency," Trabbold recalled, "and nobody could help us."

Traumatized by the experience, Trabbold is now pushing legislators for a new state law to help patients like her son.

The 36-year-old mother and home day care operator wants hospitals to create waiting rooms and treatment spaces designed to accommodate patients with autism and other disabilities experiencing a mental health crisis. She also wants mandatory training for staff, so they know how to handle patients with special needs.

"Our medical system is failing those with developmental and mental health disabilities," Trabbold has told lawmakers.

In New Jersey, families and health care providers struggle to find appropriate care for an estimated 24,000 children and adults with disabilities who engage in severe, challenging behaviors, according to Autism New Jersey.

In response to the rising need, some hospitals have already made some accommodations for patients with special needs, the Asbury Park Press recently reported, including autism-friendly spaces at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick and Capital Health Medical Center in Hopewell, and additional training for emergency staff at Community Medical Center in Toms River.

Hospitals are learning from each other to create solutions for their communities, said Mary Ditri, vice president of community health for the New Jersey Hospital Association.

"Our hospitals take very seriously the complex needs of all patients who enter their doors," Ditri said. "There are ongoing reviews of evidence-based approaches to providing the best patient-centered care, including training for EMS and other first responders in engaging with neuro-atypical patients and strategies for practitioners to use while interacting with patients who are on the autism spectrum."

But Trabbold wants lawmakers to ensure every emergency department in the state is equipped to handle a special needs patient in crisis.

"If not experienced, it’s on the back burner," Trabbold said. "For me, it’s on my front burner."

A draft version of "Ronnie's Rally" bill recently gained support from The Arc of New Jersey and Autism New Jersey.

"It's a good step in the right direction," said Eric Eberman, public policy director for Autism New Jersey. But the bigger issue facing families is the need for increased access to appropriate care to prevent individuals from experiencing a behavioral health crisis in the first place, he said.

"Emergency departments are, by design, not great places for individuals with autism or special needs that are in crisis," Eberman said. "They're loud. There's not a lot of areas where they can be calm or find space or be treated in a quick manner. I think it’s generally just difficult to begin with."

Tom Baffuto, executive director of The Arc of New Jersey, said Trabbold's proposal could help make hospitals more inclusive for people with disabilities and improve care.

"Truthfully, we support hospitals doing whatever can be done to minimize the discomfort of an emergency room setting for the people that we represent," Baffuto said.

In a letter sent to Trabbold and shared with USA TODAY Network New Jersey, Senate President Steve Sweeney expressed interest in the issue, and said he will review the draft bill.

"Ensuring we have the appropriate resources and supports for residents with disabilities is something that is of utmost importance to me," Sweeney wrote, "and it is essential that our health facilities are properly equipped to care for this population."

After Ronnie left the treatment facility, the Trabbold family found a skilled doctor in South Jersey willing to help the boy. He now receives in-home therapy and is on a "life-changing" medication regimen that keeps him stable.

Jaime Trabbold is driven, too, by the knowledge that she won't always be around to be Ronnie's voice. She is also battling metastatic breast cancer that spread to her lymph nodes and bones.

"I need to do something, and I need to make sure that when I'm no longer here, that those who have to take care of him know exactly where to go to take care of him, so they don't have to go through what I went through," Trabbold said.

"Moms know best."