WEBVTT - What Happened to Edward? 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:05.560 O La Latino USA listener gomestas, here's a great show 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:12.000 from the archives. 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:13.920 Look look come here. 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:21.960 That was always like his days. Look at him. This 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.800 was in October of twenty seventeen. 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:30.520 This is Darry Lugones Latino USA producer Maggie Freelin is 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.280 with her in her living room in Brownsville, one of 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.560 the poorest neighborhoods in New York City. It's the summer 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.279 and they're sitting on the couch in front of them. 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.560 A large fan is buzzing and water is puddling under 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:46.880 a dripping clothesline strung across the room. It's eleven AM 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:49.479 and Darry is half asleep in a robe and underwear. 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.920 She rubs her eyes as she talks about her younger 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:54.200 brother Edward. 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.960 Oh, look I found one has wrapping things, has music. 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.160 Okayquems out blue car. 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:07.160 So see how volunteers. So I'm saying that that's the wayte. 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:11.800 And this is his inspiration, little UZI like he just 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:13.880 I can't even listen to that man no more because 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:16.440 it's just like I guess had and it reminds me 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:17.240 of him so much. 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:22.320 And he's like, when I get older, I'm gonna be working. 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:29.760 With him, and then yeah, you don't find him here 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:32.400 in the living room, no more wrapping, reading his rhymes 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:33.280 and none of that. 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.240 That's weird, Like, you know, all I see is a ghost. 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:37.400 Now when I come to the living room or to 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:40.560 the kitchen, it just feels so empty without him here, 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:41.200 Like it's. 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:42.640 Just he was not the same. 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.520 I don't really care you. I'm very attached to him, 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:50.000 like very I don't care what we went through, how 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:52.440 many downfoad we have. I mean, at the end of 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:54.720 the day, not only because he's my brother, but in 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:57.360 the house that was my best friend. 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:02.000 The oldest girl and oldest boy of six kids were 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:06.080 very close until a year ago, when Edward was eighteen 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:14.480 years old. Court records show that on January third of 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:18.720 twenty eighteen, Edward Cordero was on a busy subway platform 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:23.560 in Brooklyn. Sixty five year old Jacintos Suarrez was also 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:30.919 there waiting for the train. According to witnesses and Edward's 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:36.000 own statement to the police, Edward was talking about God, spirits, 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:39.560 and the devil, and he believed Swatis was the devil. 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:44.359 At two twenty five pm, Edward punched Swatz from behind, 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:48.040 causing him to fall onto the train tracks. Swatis suffered 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:52.960 a heart attack and died. A New York Daily News 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:59.400 video captured Edward moments after his arrest. Do you mean I, Oh, God, 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:01.840 who died? 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:02.800 He says. 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:08.120 He's completely confused. He keeps saying, like, what did I do? 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:11.120 They keep telling me that I killed the man, but 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:12.120 I don't remember. 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:16.239 What happened on that subway platform is tragic and it's 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:19.960 extremely rare. Studies show that most people with mental illness 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:24.840 are not violent, but the subway attack is also emblematic 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:27.480 of something far too common in New York City, and 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:33.560 beyond serious mental illness that goes untreated. Edward's sister, Dorry, 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:37.880 says he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:41.480 although we can't independently confirm that, she says he was 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.280 in and out of hospitals and on and off medication 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.280 for years. She told us that at the time of 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.040 the subway attack, he had recently been released from a 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:52.440 hospital and may have gone off his medication. 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:54.880 He was a dotty. That wasn't mean, like, that was 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:56.920 not mean like I thought. That was a devil. And 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:58.760 that's why I punched him the way I did. 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:05.480 Edward is now in jail at Riker's Island, awaiting trial, 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:08.680 and while his name is no longer in the headlines, 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:12.600 his case points to the challenges of treating people with 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:22.240 serious mental illness. From Fudromedia and PRX, It's Latino USA. 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:26.359 I'm Maria Josa. Today we look at how and why 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:30.200 someone like Edward Cordero falls through the cracks of the 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:39.880 mental health system. Latino USA producer Maggie Freeling is going 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:40.679 to take it from here. 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.560 Edward's case is complicated and we're not able to confirm 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:48.640 all the details of his past. After Darry spoke with 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.160 us last summer, she and Edward's public defender stopped communicating 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:54.839 with us. I reached out to Edward in jail, but 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:58.479 I got no response, and due to medical privacy laws, 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:02.320 we don't know exactly how doctors tried to manage Edward's illness, 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.839 but we do know that Edward's situation is similar to 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:07.880 so many others in New York and beyond. 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:10.040 It was like terrible, have we been going through the 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:20.039 swim since he was littone? As long as I came Momer, 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:21.720 I wouldn't be able to tell you like the age, 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:23.679 but I know he was very young. 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:28.320 Darian Edward grew up in New York. They moved around 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:31.080 from Staten Island to Brooklyn, and Daria now lives in 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:35.520 public housing in Brownsville. The vast majority of Brownsville residents 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.159 are people of color, and the area is notorious for 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:42.679 crime and poor health outcomes. According to Drry, when Edward 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.560 was a little boy, his father landed in prison and 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:47.440 ultimately died by suicide. 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:50.240 My mother was only six years old and he found 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.040 out that his father has strangled himself in jail. 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:55.680 That's not something you know, a six year old want 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:55.919 to know. 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.960 As Edward aged, Dorry says she watched his behavior change. 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:03.800 He would get aggressive and violent, hitting and biting people. 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:05.360 We didn't know what was wrong. 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:07.680 We thought it was just like you know, teenage behavior 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:11.000 basically like oh, you know, him going through a boy face. 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:13.279 We never took it as a whole thing up until 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.160 he got older, I would say, like sixteen, because that's 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:18.960 when everything like basically started like that. We started noticing 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.520 that he had issues when he started getting. 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:23.680 Like really into this church thing. 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:29.080 He just kept talking about, Oh people was Satans, We 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:32.360 was warlocks because we wasn't married and we'd have kids 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:34.160 and I'm like, what the hell, Like, what is this? 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:36.720 And that's when like my mom finally decided, you know, 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:38.480 you need to be in a hospital. 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:42.520 And so the cycle began. 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:47.040 Edward would rotate in and out of hospitals during psychotic episodes, 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:49.920 but his circumstances did not improve. 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:51.320 And then he had to go in and out of 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.880 the hospitals. He eighteen, and they just like, oh, like okay, 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:56.760 you were allowed to go by yourself. 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:00.480 Allowed to leave the hospital alone because at eighteen, Edward 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:02.560 was legally an adult. 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:04.960 Darry says. 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.719 One time Edward was released from the hospital without supervision and. 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:11.040 They were released his medicine to him, as that are 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:11.840 released in his house. 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:14.320 Edward was left in charge of his own medicine and 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.640 instead of taking it, darry says, he flushed it down 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:17.080 the toilet. 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:20.840 So I'm like, what the like, this is just so unpropression. 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:23.119 And his behavior was getting worse. 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:25.400 He was attacking me for no reason. 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:33.200 The family felt helpless, and at this point we should 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:35.560 just sidestep for a minute to lay out what exactly 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:37.600 we mean by serious mental illness. 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:42.640 We're typically talking about illnesses that include psychosis. 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:44.000 This is John Snook. 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:47.480 He runs the Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit that pushes 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:50.360 for better treatment for people with serious mental illness. 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:55.520 So things like schizophrenia, schizo effective disorder, and bipolar disorder. 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.240 They're typically the illnesses that are the most severe, hence 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:03.040 the name, and really is one of the most debilitating 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:05.160 diseases we have right now. 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:05.520 As a nation. 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:09.000 Serious mental illness is hard enough to handle if you're 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.240 wealthy and have access to the best care. For someone 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:15.200 like Edward, it's the worst kind of slippery slope. 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:17.680 And mental illness is like any other illness, So if 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.600 you don't provide the sort of care that that person needs, 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.720 they're going to get worse and eventually you're dealing with 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:24.640 the crisis. 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:28.640 And that's what happened with Edward. Several months before the 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:32.760 alleged subway attack, Edward was arrested in his neighborhood for robbery. 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.800 Court records and a police report state that Edward ripped 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:38.640 a purse from the shoulder of a twenty five year 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:42.000 old woman. He was arrested and charged with seven offenses, 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:47.040 including menacing, harassing, and robbery in the second degree, a felony. 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:51.079 He was arraigned and the judge ordered him released without bail, 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:54.600 so Edward was back on the street, and Darry says 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.560 at some point after that he was once again hospitalized. 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:00.959 He was just recently in there. I remember on Thanksgiving 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.679 he wasn't here with the family. We were speaking to 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:06.079 him over the phone. And then next thing you know 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:07.920 already but like I would say, like the d of 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:10.559 November to like the beginning of December, he was out again. 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:13.120 The new year came, he was home with us, and 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.360 then that night before he had like a relapse over here, 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:18.480 like now, I'm just cleaning my room and he just 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:21.160 I don't know where. It was like, oh, like your 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.440 devil child and throws something and I'm like, are you serious? 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:24.800 Right now? 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:26.839 That was the last I've seen for him. And then 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:30.160 the next day come and that's when it happened. 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:34.719 Investigators believe Edward Caderro Sucker punched the grandfather, causing him 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.600 to fall onto the tracks. Saus died at the hospital. 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.480 The day after Edward fought with dari was when he 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:45.480 allegedly killed hecinto Suarez. In Edward's own statement after his arrest, 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.320 he says, I wanted the guy to see my face. 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:53.920 End quote see Jesus Christ defeats evil. Jacinto Suarez was 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:55.920 a father and grandfather. 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:59.200 His oldest son, barely finding the words to express his grief. 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:02.240 Just stop, stump, tired man. 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:04.840 Can't believe this happened, you. 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:11.080 Know, definitely not definitely not gone to song. It's my daddy. 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:19.760 Tragic events like this one fuel fear and stigma, and 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:22.640 they raise the question why is it so hard to 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:26.160 provide care to someone with a serious mental illness like Edward? 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.800 Care that might have prevented this tragedy. 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:39.880 Coming up on Latino USA, we dig into the problems 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:59.920 and look at some solutions. Stay with us. Hey, we're back, 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.320 and we're going to zoom out now to understand how 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:07.439 the failure to treat Edward Gordedo's mental illness connects to 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:11.400 larger systemic problems. Let's go back now to let you 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:13.319 know USA producer Maggie Freeling. 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.439 To be clear, tackling everything that's wrong with the mental 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:22.080 health system in one episode is pretty impossible. So we're 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:24.320 going to focus on a few common problems that we 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:28.480 believe directly affected Edward. One of them is the nationwide 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:35.640 shortage of inpatient hospital beds for psychiatric care. Emergency hospitalization 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:38.200 is one way to provide urgent care to someone in 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:40.800 a mental health crisis, as you heard about with Edward. 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:44.120 People are monitored and may receive new or different medication 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:45.480 or other treatments. 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:48.559 But as John Snook, the Mental health Advocate. 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:52.800 Explains, unfortunately New York's standard for getting into a hospital 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:57.520 bed is very high. It typically requires that a person 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:02.280 evidence that they're dangerous to themselves or someone else. And 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:05.520 most states have recognized that that's a that's a dumb 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.559 way to provide medical care. But the standard is are 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:12.760 they dangerous not do they need help? Hopefully their illness 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.680 is manifesting in such a way that they seem violent 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:18.240 or they seem suicidal, which is a terrible thing to 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:20.760 hope for, but that's how you get into care. 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:23.800 And Edward did make it into a hospital bed and 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.920 on multiple occasions, as his sister Darry told us, but 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:30.680 it was only temporary and hospital beds are being cut 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:35.240 across the country. In twenty sixteen, John Snook's organization, the 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.240 Treatment Advocacy Center, published a report on the number of 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:42.240 state hospital beds available for psychiatric patients. It found that 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:44.520 the number of beds had fallen to an all time 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:48.199 Low and John Snook says the shortage of beds forces 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.640 doctors to make difficult decisions. 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:54.560 What you end up with is situations where, unfortunately doctors 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:59.480 have to triage, and so they aren't able to think about, well, 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.400 how can I ensure that this person is in an 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:07.199 impatient facility long enough to really get well and recover. 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.400 They're thinking about how do I prevent the next headline, 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:14.240 who is the most seriously ill person that I need 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.679 to get into this bed right now? And how can 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:18.559 I get them out of that bed as quickly as 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:20.800 possible because I need it for someone else. 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:23.160 And so to put this all in context, we have 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:29.679 to go back to the nineteen sixties. Before then, people 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.520 with serious mental illness would typically go to state run 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:36.000 psychiatric hospitals. But by the middle of the twentieth century 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.760 these institutions were on the decline, and books and movies 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:43.240 like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest didn't help their reputation. 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:46.480 You guys do nothing but complain about how you can't 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:48.240 stand it in this place here, and then you haven't 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:48.600 got the. 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:49.800 Guts just to walk out. 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:51.000 How do you think you are for. 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.560 Pricing after years of scandals at state run psychiatric institutions. 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:57.640 There was a shift. The government began shutting them down, 0:13:57.760 --> 0:13:58.079 and we. 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.720 Have to offer something more than crowded because studio care 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:01.959 and our state institutions. 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:06.080 In nineteen sixty three, President Kennedy signed the Community Mental 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:10.280 Health Act. Under this legislation, custodial mental institutions will be 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:13.640 replaced by therapeutic senates. The new law pushed for people 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.760 with mental illness to be cared for within their own communities, 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:22.000 not sent away to institutions. It was a process called deinstitutionalization. 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.200 While the law established new ideals for serving people with 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.720 mental illness, it also resulted in many people who needed 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:34.120 long term care ending up on the streets and homeless. Today, 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:36.400 while four percent of adults in the US have a 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:40.640 serious mental illness, they're over represented in the homeless population 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:44.640 and in correctional facilities. And the cutting of hospital beds 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:47.520 is not just a problem for patients and their advocates, 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:55.960 it's a challenge for doctors too. Doctor Iman Finuse is 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.840 a psychiatrist and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:02.120 Sunny Downstate Medical Center in New York City. He's worked 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:03.960 in the er treating people like Edward. 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:07.600 I can tell you that on a personal level, I 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:10.720 have had a number of situations where we've had a 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:15.600 patient who really needed hospitation baddling just had nowhere to 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:17.480 go because we had no beds in the area. 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:21.920 And so people without family support or other resources have 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:26.600 few options. It's also important to say how overstretched healthcare 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:30.720 providers are, especially in neighborhoods like Edwards. According to New 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.760 York City data, Brownsville has the second highest rate of 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:38.280 psychiatric hospitalizations in the city and the least access to healthcare. 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:42.240 Doctor Finuse works in Flatbush, a neighborhood in Brooklyn close 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:44.520 to Edwards, and with similar problems. 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:47.880 We're dealing with communities that are long suffering, and they've 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:52.760 been the victims of severe injustice over centuries, and to 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:56.680 have this sort of perpetuated in these kinds of illnesses 0:15:56.760 --> 0:16:00.200 going untreated as a major sort of tragic situation. 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:08.640 So when getting stabilized in a hospital fails, there's still 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:11.920 a backup plan that some of the most extreme cases 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:16.600 can fall into. And it's controversial. One reason I want 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:18.280 to tell you about it is because of how it 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:22.280 came about. It began with a situation eerily similar to 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:23.800 Edwards in the subway. 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:26.520 Exactly nineteen years to. 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:30.480 The date before Edward allegedly pushed Jacinto Suarez onto the tracks, 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:34.120 Kendra Webdeal was also standing on a New York City 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:39.600 subway platform. An unmedicated man with schizophrenia pushed her into 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:42.400 the path of an oncoming train, and he had recently 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.920 been released from a hospital. Kendra was thirty two when 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:50.240 she died, and after that her family became outspoken about 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:52.400 care for people with serious mental illness. 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:54.680 When Kendra was pushed toward death in front of a 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.000 New York City subway train, we later learned of the 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.360 ongoing hardships encountered by some of the mentally ill themselves, 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.520 and the anguish experienced by their families who have tried, 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.960 often unsuccessfully, to get their loved ones the help they 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:08.800 desperately need. 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:11.280 This is Kendra's mom. 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:14.720 In nineteen ninety nine, her family played a critical role 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:17.960 in passing Kendro's Law, a state law that created something 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:25.000 called assisted outpatient treatment, or AOT. The law makes it 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:28.280 possible for a judge to court order someone treatment without 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:32.480 putting them in a hospital. The treatment can include medication, therapy, 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:36.439 and case management, but it's not easy to qualify. A 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:38.639 judge has to decide that the person who is mentally 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:44.040 ill is unable to live safely without supervision. Opponents of 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.200 Kendra's law, including the New York Civil Liberties Union, say 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:50.920 it violates the right to determine one's own treatment, but 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:55.520 still courts have upheld the law is constitutional. An independent 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:59.920 evaluation found that AOT reduces the likelihood that recipients will 0:17:59.920 --> 0:18:05.359 be rehospitalized, incarcerated, or end up homeless, and today forty 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:08.600 seven states have some version of AOT, and. 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:12.160 Most of all, Kendra's law represents hope that another family 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:15.480 will never have to experience the heartache of losing a 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:16.960 cherished member of their family. 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:20.800 But assisted out patient treatment is not a cure. 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:24.480 John Snook from the Treatment Advocacy Center says this is 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:27.960 the crux of the entire problem. AOT is a band 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:30.720 aid from when people are in the worst possible scenario. 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:35.240 Because we are in this cycle of letting people fall 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:37.800 apart and only getting them care when they're at their 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:42.240 very sickest, we just never catch up. It'd be as 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:45.400 if we had a cardiac center, but we only provided 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:47.879 care to people once they had a heart attack. And 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.879 then we were surprised at how expensive and broken the 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:51.520 system was. 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:59.359 Although Edward Cordero may have qualified for AOT when he 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.800 became an adult almost a year before the incident, this 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:06.120 specific safety net does not appear to have caught him. 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.760 Edward's sister darry says she doesn't remember anyone telling her 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:20.359 about it as an option. Clearly, creating a system that 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:22.639 can manage care for everyone who needs it is a 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:26.920 big challenge. It would take years of legislation, funding and training. 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:30.840 But there is one solution that pretty much everyone agrees 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.920 on that people with serious mental illness need regular monitoring, 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:37.080 case management, and support. 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:41.800 We're not of East New York, along with Best, which 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:42.120 is a. 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:43.280 Town over we want. 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:45.840 I'm standing on a street corner in Edward's old neighborhood 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:48.560 with Ana Miguel. She works with people who have serious 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:52.560 mental illness, and she herself was diagnosed with schizophrenia and 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:56.159 bipolar disorder, so she knows firsthand what the people she 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:59.320 sees are going through. Anna works on an ACT team 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:04.680 that's ACT for Assertive Community Treatment. Anna's job is to 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:07.080 go to the homes of people who are too sick 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:10.560 to seek out care and check in Are they eating? 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:14.400 Do they need groceries? Are they taking their medications? Are 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:17.040 they sticking with their treatment plans? I asked her to 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:18.080 describe a typical debt. 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:24.879 Oooh not easy. I see eleven, sometimes twelve clients in 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:28.439 one day. That temperature on Monto Luther King's that it 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:30.879 was like zero's. I was out here working, I had 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:35.439 thirteen clients that day. My phone finally froze, went black 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:37.879 and I couldn't see the last two clients because it 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:38.800 was in Coney Island. 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:40.840 Today, I'm going with Anna on a home visit. 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:44.480 We are going to see a client that's actually receptive 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:45.280 to this visit. 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:49.800 We can get off here and walk over. 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:52.760 There along with us as a nurse practitioner who takes 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:55.399 care of any medical needs that may arise. And for 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:58.679 confidentiality reasons, we're not identifying the young man we went 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:05.920 to visit coffee, the nurse is giving him a shot 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:11.840 of antipsychotic medication. Anna tells me this particular client has 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:14.360 been improving steadily since she's been seeing him. 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:15.480 He's so proud of. 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:17.159 Me. 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:18.919 Well, you give me a minute. 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:21.919 Yes, how was it all right? 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:28.560 Awesome? I's good to see. 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:29.840 The check in lasted about twenty minutes. 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:33.159 After the client got his medication, Anna just chatted with 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:37.000 him about music, the weather, everyday things, just to make 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:41.880 sure he seemed okay, A yeah, that's cool. 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:44.080 And then she left for another apartment. 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:47.359 We are off to the East flat Bush area. 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:51.040 In addition to visits like this, one part of Anna's 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:53.719 job is to simply let people know what services are 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:56.560 available in their community. She tells me that she walks 0:21:56.600 --> 0:21:59.040 around to spread the word in the neighborhood, a place 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:04.040 that historically access to health services. In October, a brand 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:06.600 new health hub opened in East New York. It's run 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:09.840 by the Institute for Community Living in New York based nonprofit. 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:12.120 It's a pretty big deal and that's why it made 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:13.080 local TV news. 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:16.120 This East New York health hub is offering so many 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:19.560 services that those who organize it say they want to 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:23.760 be the primary model for what healthcare can look like. 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:28.760 Anna's based at the hub, and many of her clients 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:30.880 come and see her there too, where they can also 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:33.960 get care for things like general checkups and join group 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:37.560 programs like art classes and job training. In addition to 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:40.280 the hub itself, New York City officials say they're spending 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:42.880 more money to expand the use of these act teams 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:46.159 like Anna's. In fact, New York City is in the 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:49.720 midst of a multi year initiative called Thrive and YC. 0:22:50.520 --> 0:22:54.280 It's spending hundreds of millions of dollars on mental health services. 0:22:54.960 --> 0:22:57.800 Doctor Gary Belkin is one of the people leading that charge. 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:00.560 When I spoke with him in September, he was aware 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:02.880 of the uphill battle the city's facing to take care 0:23:02.880 --> 0:23:04.439