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Moms in crisis turned away at OnTrack due to state sanctions Jerra Roley and her children, Cecilya Gairson, 3, and infant brother Gage, are among the few still at the OnTrack Mom's Program in Medford. New clients are being turned away after the Oregon Health Authority cracked down on "deplorable conditions" found at OnTrack housing. [Mail Tribune / Denise Baratta] Wednesday Apr 26, 2017 at 5:47 PM Apr 26, 2017 at 6:02 PM Damian Mann Mail Tribune @reporterdm A state prohibition on accepting new clients at an OnTrack program has forced it to turn away mothers who have pleaded for help with their addictions and sought a safe home for their children. "We have 48 clients who are desperate to come into the Mom's Program," said Amanda Lindley Krug, program director. "The children are suffering." Because of the restriction that's been in effect for two months, Krug said, she has only seven clients and three babies remaining in a program designed for 29 clients and more than 50 children. Many of the children of mothers who have been turned away are instead being referred to foster care. If the freeze continues through May, Krug said, she predicts she will have no clients left because the existing mothers will have graduated from the three-month program, also known as HOME. As a result of the small number of clients, Krug's been forced to lay off half of her 10-member staff. The remaining five work in three shifts over a 24-hour period. The daycare facility in the building is also underutilized, with only three children in inpatient care and six in outpatient. According to OHA spokeswoman Courtney Crowell, her agency has issued an "intent to revoke" the Mom's Program license, though OnTrack has requested a hearing to show it has made improvements. OHA warned OnTrack it may pull its license after investigators found significant health and safety risks, including failure to send two children with serious illnesses to the emergency room.  The threat to the program is part of a series of crises at Southern Oregon’s largest addiction treatment provider, including “deplorable conditions” found at OnTrack housing, legal action alleging abuse toward employees and clients, and departure of its 39-year executive director, Rita Sullivan.  The Mom’s Program is a state-licensed facility. Multiple violations there are detailed in a 12-page “Notice of Intent to Revoke Alcohol and Drug Residential Treatment License” letter sent Feb. 24 by OHA to OnTrack board president Jim Maize. The letter described restrictions on the current license that mean the Mom's Program can't accept any new clients. "We're really hopefully the state will come down and find the concerns have been addressed," Krug said. "We've gone above and beyond what they've asked us to do." Krug said OnTrack will do whatever is required by state officials so that it can begin accepting new clients. The roof has been replaced on the building, located on Delta Waters Road, and new windows, furniture and other improvements have been made inside. Krug said she routinely gets calls from mothers who want to get off drugs or out of a dangerous situation for their children but have to be turned away. An intravenous heroin addict in her 20s with two children called recently, begging Krug to let her come in. "I had to tell her, 'We're sorry that we can't take you,'" Krug said. "Another mother said, 'I will sleep on the floor.' I said, 'Honey, I can't.'"  In another case, an existing client gave birth but wasn't allowed to come back to the Mom's Program. Krug said the baby was born prematurely and the mother is able to sleep temporarily at the hospital. "We have to put her in outpatient status," Krug said. "Her case manager is working like mad to find her a place to stay. It's very sad." OnTrack Inc. is nearing the end of a $600,000 remodel of the Mom's Program and other residential units for recovering addicts that were found by state officials to have "deplorable conditions," including an eight-unit apartment complex on 12th Street and a 10-unit site on 11th Street. "We're making progress," said Rick Nagel, OnTrack's interim executive director. "I'm hoping everything is done in the next couple of weeks." Earlier plans to upgrade a teen program building at the corner of Holly and West Fifth streets have been tabled, with OnTrack considering other options for the property, including demolition of the existing structure and construction of a new building. "We've abandoned that building," Nagel said. "We're not sure what we're going to do with it." The teens have been moved to another OnTrack building on West Main Street. "I think where they are right now is much more comfortable," Nagel said. Nagel said he hopes the state will visit the Mom's Program facility again to see the improvements. "We’re really doing everything we can to comply," he said.  — Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on www.twitter.com/reporterdm.