I-TEAM: Mother outraged at special needs son’s living conditions

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Pictures obtained by the WAFB I-TEAM speak for themselves, showing the conditions inside an apartment where a woman’s special needs son was allegedly neglected. The images show mold on the floor of the living room, stains on the bed sheets and pillows, and a broken toilet. Pamela Eames says she is disgusted with how her son was forced to live.

”It’s horrible,” said Eames. “Because if it’s happening to my son how many other people out there is this happening to?”

Apart from thee disturbing conditions inside the apartment, Eames says she also took pictures of sores on her son’s arms, hands and feet.

”The foot was purple and it had sores on it,” said Eames. “It was infected and the other foot looked like it was just starting the heal. It was horrible.”

Eames says it is clear her son was not being properly cared for at the apartment complex and that’s why she started documenting what was going on.

“I did that because I was hoping that it would be a point in time that would come up to where those pictures would help me and it’s now,” said Eames.

Her son’s apartment is located just off Old Hammond Highway but she says he is cared for by a company called Haven’s Gateway, which provides caregivers to stay with him around the clock. She says they have been having issues with Haven’s Gateway for the last seven years and every time she tried to ask questions from those in charge at Haven’s Gateway, she was met with excuses and empty promises. She also adds that every day she would show up to visit, her son was losing weight.

“Many, many nights I couldn’t sleep,” said Eames. “I couldn’t sleep knowing that my son was over there because I was worried about how he was being treated and if he was being fed because when I’d go over there it was no food and he was losing so much weight. That’s not right.”

Another time, when she picked him up to take him home to Metairie for the holidays, Eames says she found a pocket knife in his bag.

”Why would my son have that in his bag? That was very scary and that made me feel like what’s going on in his apartment. I mean I’m scared,” said Eames. “What else could he get a hold of?”

She says her son Ryan suffers from severe schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and he is also non-verbal. His mother says the worst part was feeling that something was wrong with her son but not being able to communicate with him.

”I just had to kind of have faith that everything was okay,” said Eames.

She tells the WAFB I-TEAM that she made the difficult decision to place him in the care of Haven’s Gateway because she had to choose between keeping him at home with her or caring for her elderly father who has dementia. Eames says the last straw came in March when her son was abandoned inside the apartment and was allowed to wander out into the street in the middle of the night. He ended up at a pizza restaurant on Old Hammond Highway, where workers there called the police.

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“I’m glad that he’s safe and he was found but anything could have happened. Anything could have,” said Eames.

Nayia Byrd was supposed to be his caretaker that night. She was arrested and charged with cruelty to the infirm. A police report shows the man was left alone with no food, water, or air conditioning. The report also noted mold and mildew in the living room and kitchen and old food on the kitchen floor. The report added that whoever was in charge was not taking good care of the victim.

”I just can’t believe people like that can you know run a business and go to bed at night knowing how they’re treating these poor people,” said Eames.

When the WAFB I-TEAM reached out to the manager for Haven’s Gateway, he told us he could not talk about anything related to his client. When pressed about the conditions of the apartment even caught the attention of police, that manager abruptly ended the call. Eames says she faced the same thing when she tried to get answers about her son.

She has since taken Ryan out of the facility and is now sounding the alarm about how she says he was treated there.

”I’m just fed up with them, you know,” said Eames. “I wouldn’t advise that company to anybody. I really wouldn’t.”

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