Chapter 20 - ST. ALDEN AFTER THE HARROWS
St. Alden did not close.
I was glad.
Hundreds of families used its programs.
Many needed them.
Destroying a functioning pediatric rehabilitation center because the Harrows distorted one referral would have punished children who had nothing to do with us.
The board replaced its intake director.
Required independent verification when parents disagreed.
Separated financial intake from clinical recommendation.
Prohibited vendors from drafting treatment-language suggestions.
Created a conflict committee.
Renegotiated the Harrow lease.
Dr. Mercer remained medical director after outside review concluded he had not participated in fraudulent billing and had pushed back once he learned the truth.
He wrote me.
I expected an apology designed to protect the institution.
Instead:
We should have spoken directly to you before accepting any characterization of your consent.
Good.
Then:
Merrick was never a problem to be converted into a program.
Better.
I did not respond immediately.
Months later, I wrote:
Thank you for changing the process.
No friendship.
No lawsuit settlement disguised as healing.
Institutional accountability.
Harrow Mobility requalified for limited preferred-vendor status after two years.
Different leadership.
Independent audits.
No family sales involvement in minor-beneficiary accounts.
Some people called that too lenient.
I disagreed.
A company can change.
Employees who did nothing wrong should not lose livelihoods forever because executives failed.
Emmett never returned.
He built a career with an unrelated logistics company.
No medical trusts.
No family foundation.
He was good at operations.
Apparently competence had always existed beneath dependence.
May you like
That was sad.
And hopeful.
