Poor Oversight: DoH drops the ball on optometrist accused of sexual assault

“He had an obvious erection, and just started grinding on me. There was nothing ambiguous about it.” This is not how you would expect someone to describe their last visit to their optometrist. Yet this woman, who has asked to have her identity withheld, has. She describes the most vulnerable part of an eye exam – equipment that makes you feel confined, stuck with peripheral vision cut off and sight- impairing eye drops making everything fuzzy. And then being taken advantage of by a person you trusted.

She’s one of a number of women who found one another online, through their similar reviews of their experiences with West Side MD Dr. Paul DeCesare, of DeCesare Eyecare. Many of these reviews were removed recently without explanation from sites like CareDash and Healthgrades. A couple are still visible on Yelp, and have reappeared on other sites.

What is more alarming in the realm of disappearing complaints is that at least three were filed with the Department of Health (DoH) over the last few years. Motif was able to track down three official complainants (We’ll call them A, B and C for this article). All three said they had found other women with similar experiences through online review sites, but we were unable to contact them all. Two of the three we spoke with provided us with copies of their official complaint paperwork, filed with the DoH. Both described attending hearings, and they each said they felt the hearings were conducted with little sensitivity, and both subsequently received basic notices saying that “an internal investigation has been conducted, and no disciplinary action was taken.” There was no further information or indication of why there was no censure — nor recommendations for further action. One appeal was denied on the grounds that there was no new evidence.

Dr. DeCesare has been practicing for more than 47 years in Providence. He is a past president of the RI Optometric Association, and served on the board of examiners — the same board that was asked to assess complaints against him — for a decade. He operates from offices on Broadway, and focuses on family practice with his colleague Dr. Cassandra Oliveira, who joined the practice in 2016.

While the police handle any criminal complaints against doctors, the Department of Health has its own internal adjudication system to handle ethics, malpractice and competency complaints. There are hundreds of reprimands and a few other disciplinary actions that can be found on the DoH site from the last several years, spanning most medical specialities as well as nurses, pharmacists, barbers and nail salons.

According to Joseph Wendelken, spokesperson for RIDoH, “If we get a complaint regarding a boundary violation or issue of sexual harassment here is the usual process:

1. Complaint is reviewed at Team Review Tuesdays at 11am 2. Every complaint is screened daily so if a complaint was particularly serious it would be opened that day 3. Notice is sent to the physician that a complaint has been opened for investigation 4. It is common for the complainant in a matter like this to be interviewed 5. After we get a response, the case is presented to the Investigative Committee for their review and decision. It is common for the Investigative Committee to interview the physician and if appropriate, the complainant 6. If the above situation were considered to present an immediate danger to the public, the Director of Health is notified for consideration of applicable usage of her emergency powers.”

We asked the DoH for any complaints filed against Dr. DeCesare. They declined to provide that information. We filed a public records request and were informed that complaints are not considered public record unless disciplinary action is taken. The DoH has not taken disciplinary action against this doctor, so an unknown number of complaints against him are locked away (when disciplinary action is taken, the action can be viewed publicly at health.ri.gov/lists/disciplinaryactions).

We also requested police records on complaints filed against Dr. DeCesare. The Providence Police declined to disclose anything on the basis that it might jeopardize an ongoing investigation (before you jump to any conclusions from that response, you should know that this is the response the Providence Police have given to every open records request we have filed with them — over a dozen on various different cases over the years. It’s really just their way of telling the press to go get a lawyer if we want anything).

We asked an independent practicing optometrist about sensitivity to this sort of issue. He also wished to remain anonymous, but told us, “That’s why I always leave the exam room door open. It’s not an issue that’s really come up, but you want people to feel comfortable.” He told us that doctors don’t receive any special training regarding sexual misconduct or sensitivity. They do receive special training on how to interact with children, with elderly patients, patients on the autism spectrum and patients who are prone to fainting when something comes too close to their eyes (a rare but real disorder). Each of these presents unique challenges, but training on generally or sexually appropriate behavior is not something that’s available. Or, in his opinion, should need to be. “There’s an element of common sense you should have. That’s just not okay.”

The women who had bad experiences tell similar tales, with different levels of escalation. One review still on HealthGrades says, “I visited Dr. Paul DeCesare several years ago and he made me feel very uncomfortable. He repeatedly called me condescending pet names like ‘sweetie,’ ‘honey,’ ‘young lady’ (I was nearly 30 at the time, not 5 years old), while at the same time touching me constantly for no reason. I’ve been going to eye doctors for about 20 years and this definitely went beyond the normal intimacy of a typical visit. Stay away from this guy.”

On Yelp, there are three reviews with a similar theme. One of the reviewers is not a frequent Yelper, but the other two are verified and have put up reviews on many different topics.

From HM: “The staff at the front was nice but the doctor was super creepy and I wanted to leave but was afraid to.

“He kept calling me ‘sweetie,’ ‘babe,’ ‘baby,’ ‘honey’ etc … But worst of all he kept touching me constantly. He rubbed my thigh with his hand, pressed his crotch against my legs repeatedly, held my hands and pressed his face against mine. I’m not new to seeing optometrists, I get that there is a level of closeness that needs to happen during an eye exam, but this was way over the top.”

And from Barbara S: “I was a patient here for a couple of years with no incident and liked going to this office. Until my last exam when Dr. Paul suddenly, deliberately, with no provocation and staring at me, assaulted me while I was in the exam chair. I was shocked, and pinned behind all the equipment and didn’t know what to do and said nothing at the time.

“Upon searching Yelp for … a new doctor, I discovered two other women who have had this experience with him!”

In some cases (A and C), the women who posted negative comments were asked by the practice to remove them, and some comments were removed from other review sites. It was through these comments that the women were able to reach out, connect, share their stories and gather the resolve to file formal complaints, first with the Department of Health, then with the police.

“There’s a reason people keep getting away with this behavior,” said complainant A. “I didn’t know how to report it, and couldn’t really find that information online or by Googling. I called a lot of different places and got a lot of wrong info along the way. I called Day One, and some other advocacy groups, and was told they couldn’t advise me because it was a legal matter.” Calls to the Providence police were misdirected or unanswered. “You hear no, no and no and you do give up. Honestly, at first, I didn’t even realize second degree sexual assault was a crime. I was going to just find another doctor. But I saw the other statements online. That moment was a game changer for me. I wasn’t alone, and I had to wonder how long this sort of thing had been going on, and for how much longer.”

But even the process of how to report it and to whom isn’t a clear one. “I didn’t know the attorney general would take on something like this. I thought I had to hire a lawyer,” says A. “I finally walked into the police station and asked the officer at the door for help — the one who runs people through the metal detector. Because the established channels didn’t seem to work. He brought me to the right detective.”

The DoH expressed no intention to change how complaints of this sort are handled. Disciplinary action could include, “license suspension or revocation, public reprimand, consent order or probation, provided adequate evidence is obtained to support the complaint,” but in these cases they found no grounds for any disciplinary action (both women received the same form letter). One complainant appealed the decision and was told, “Through board management and legal counsel, we conducted a thorough review of the above complaint, previously filed by you with RIDoH, as well as the additional message you recently submitted. Pursuant to this subsequent review, we found (i) sufficiently credible information was presented to support the Board’s prior decision and (ii) no new information was presented that could have materially affected the decision.”

Each complainant received a number of messages, and came in for hearings. “It was disgusting how they treated us, versus how they treated him,” said one complainant. One who saw into the file room where complaints are stored described it as a mess, with piles of papers everywhere. The DoH declined to allow a Motif reporter into that room, because the building is on lockdown for COVID, but they did say that due to the pandemic, “everything is handled differently in that department now.”

“Situations involving sexual assault can be different,” says Sarah DeCataldo of Sojourner House, which offers training to law enforcement, members of the medical community and Brown Medical School. “Common practice experts are not necessarily experts in this kind of trauma, and often benefit from being reminded that what’s routine to them in assessing these situations is not routine for victims, who do not go through this every day.”

Complainant A went to the Providence Police Department, which found enough merit in the case to bring criminal charges for second degree sexual assault on February 7, 2019. Since then, the case has been in the court system, where it has had 10 pre-trial hearings, often filing for continuances (and, naturally, it has been delayed for COVID).

“I was going to just move on, but every time I would pass that building, I would think about the other patients. The first time patient, who might go through something like what I did,” complainant B says.

“I wake up in sweat, flashing back on that visit many times. It should not be allowed to continue,” adds complainant A.

If you have a similar situation, you can report it to the Attorney General of Rhode Island’s office, which has a sex crimes division, at 401-274-4400. Drs. Decesare and Oliviera did not immediately respond to requests for comment. When we reached out, we were told they were with patients.

Open Doors and Open Arms: Open Door Health offers inclusive healthcare to LGBTQ+ Rhode Islanders

In March 2020, while the world seemed to be collapsing in on itself with the start of lockdown, you may have missed the opening of what’s proving to be an asset to Rhode Island: Open Door Health.

Located at 7-9 Central Street in Providence, Open Door Health is an initiative of the Rhode Island Public Health Institute (RIPH). This clinic specializes in the LGBTQ+ population, though all are welcome through their doors. The RIPH indicated that those who identify as LGBTQ+ often receive inadequate care due to discrimination, or due to inequitable access to “culturally competent care services.” Rhode Island has one of the highest percentages of LGBTQ+ individuals of any state in the country, so the RIPH worked to establish Open Door Health to ensure equitable access to care. Before its opening, many LGBTQ+ Rhode Islanders had to go out-of-state to receive the care they need.

The clinic’s executive director, Dr. Amy Nunn, says of the initiative, “It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and an opportunity was presented when we thought the Trump administration was going to draw back funding.” The state presented Dr. Nunn with additional funding that allowed the clinic to open, and the Trump administration eventually increased funding for LGBTQ+ communities. The clinic was also supported with grants from the Rhode Island Foundation and Champlin Foundation, and they have worked closely with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island.

The doctors at Open Door Health have been trained to work with the LGBTQ+ population, and Dr. Amy Nunn expressed how dedicated their doctors are. “These are the people who wake up thinking about our patients and our clients,” she says. “They are the people who care deeply about who they work with.”

Since the clinic’s opening, 1,050 patients have come through their doors. With the world in a global crisis, this number is impressive, and they say they’re confident they only have room to grow. The clinic offers all standard preventative care, in addition to STD screening, HIV testing and rapid-testing for COVID-19, which delivers results in 16 minutes or fewer. They also work with the transitioning population, including all-inclusive gender care and primary care, as well as gender-affirming care.

The clinic currently offers in-person appointments and telehealth, based on the patient’s comfort level. Walk-up STD testing has been put on hold until February 1; however, STD testing can still be accessed with an appointment.

Dr. Amy Nunn speaks passionately about the work that Open Door Health provides and what it plans to do in the future. Dr. Nunn summarized her feelings on the clinic and its initial year by saying: “2020 was a crazy year for all of us, but 2021 has great things ahead, not just for us, but for all of humanity.”

Open Door Health accepts multiple insurance plans and offers financial assistance to those who meet the criteria. Appointments can be made by calling 401-648-4700 and more information can be found on their website at odhpvd.org

Mural Mural on the Wall A new mural appeared this fall at 319 Broadway in PVD, on the building that houses the 1199SEIU Healthcare Workers Union. The artist behind the mural is Joyce Kutty, an artist at Smokestack Studios in Fall River, with assistance from Wes Sanders, and it’s the first mural she’s done at this scale.

Kutty connected with the union through her friend Matt DaSilva, who started an initiative called Nov10 that links artists who want to create with healthcare workers who want a piece of original art. “He asked me if I wanted to create something for the union to boost morale,” said Kutty, who enthusiastically embraced the opportunity.

District 1199 represents many types of work within healthcare — elder care, nursing care, child care, building maintenance and food services — and Kutty worked with a representative of the union to plan the narrative and message of the mural. According to Kutty, the piece “shows all union work and strings together past, present and future perspectives in healthcare.” Kutty said that the creative process not only taught her a lot about unions and their role, but restored her faith in community and humanity. “I didn’t expect [the project] to engage the community so much. The location is very public and people walking have been really supportive. It’s the most communication and connection I’ve had probably ever, nevermind in the midst of a pandemic.”

What are Kutty’s hopes for the mural’s legacy? “If people didn’t know before the pandemic that there are disparities and unfair treatment of healthcare workers, especially of people of color, now they know. There’s no looking away now, and I hope this mural is a constant and bold reminder that these people who are working every day are so important and our heroes.”

Enough Talk: Art therapy provides an alternate means of self expression

Athena Kobin is a licensed mental health counselor and art therapist who uses art in her practice to help older teens and adults express themselves in a different way than what they may be accustomed to. Kobin and I had a recent discussion about what art therapy is, who benefits from it, and how to use art as a coping skill.

Emily Olson (Motif): What is art therapy?

Athena Kobin: People in art therapy use the creative process in some capacity — through clay, paint, drawing, pen and paper, collage, found objects — and use the resulting artwork to explore feelings and reconcile conflicts. It can manage behaviors, help people cope with anxiety or reconcile conflicts.

EO: How do you use art therapy in your practice?

AK: With teens, I use it as a way to teach coping skills and explore the mind/body connection. For example, I might ask them to draw where in their body they feel something. Or portray to me through art what’s happening in their mind. Sometimes, they can’t describe an emotion verbally, but they can draw it, and a drawn feeling is often safer to explore because it’s separating these floating, negative thoughts from their mind.

With adults, I explore archetypes as a form of self awareness and self expression. I might ask them to create their own perception of how archetypes appear within them.

Clients of all ages can benefit from process painting, which is creating art based on the emotions you’re feeling in the moment. A person might work on the same painting week to week, taking pictures as they go, and creating a diary of their emotions.

EO: What is the therapist’s role in this process?

AK: I’m trained to notice themes and patterns, so I see things that come up. But art therapists aren’t interpreters. It’s more about guiding the client to reflect on their own work.

EO: Do clients ever have to break through internal boundaries to benefit from art therapy?

AK: It does take a while for people to make art without putting their own judgement on it. People try to make something pretty or representative instead of expressive, and it takes a lot of time and patience for individuals to let go of the art. In art therapy, it’s the process that really matters, but that’s not how we’re taught to do things so it’s hard for people to be authentically okay with it.

EO: Who benefits from art therapy?

AK: Art therapy improves interpersonal skills, provides alternate coping skills, increases self esteem and cognitive ability. I’ve seen so many different people who can really benefit from art therapy. People with learning disabilities, people dealing with pressure or stress, people having trouble in school, people with anxiety, depression, PTSD, brain injuries, cancer — the list goes on and on.

Art therapy is something interesting to try for someone who is resistant to other forms of treatment or who are in therapy and feel like they’re not getting enough — talk therapy doesn’t work, I need more, I need to express myself in a different way. It really works for anyone who is open to self expression.

EO: Does art therapy need to be guided?

AK: Art therapy is a guided practice with a trained therapist, but art as therapy works. You can make mandalas, a worry creature — there are plenty of directives on the internet for people who want to try using art in this way.

The best way to find an art therapist is through a quick internet search. Although there is an Art Therapy Association website, their resources aren’t comprehensive. Kobin cautions potential clients to seek a therapist who is a registered art therapist (ATR), a board certified art therapist (ATRBC) or licensed creative arts therapist (LCAT). Athena Kobin can be found at Lighthouse Counseling Associates (lighthousecounselingri.com). The Real Deal

Rhode Island media lost a heavyweight in early 2021 with the passing of long-time TV news investigative reporter Bill Rappleye, who succumbed to brain cancer last week. Bill left a mark on RI journalism that will affect generations, setting an example as the political reporter for Channel 10. He was a distinctive combination of respectful and hard-hitting; always reporting the facts, but unafraid to express his own opinion. In those opinions, he would champion the everyman and look out for the average Rhode Islander. He took his role to heart as the guy who needed to get comprehensible answers on behalf of the person on the street, from the people in charge. You couldn’t intimidate Rapp, and if he felt he wasn’t getting answers he would keep asking until he did (getting kicked out of more than a couple of press conferences along the way). His constant energy and enthusiasm were contagious and could not be daunted.

Rapp consulted with Motif on a regular basis, and was always generous with advice and guidance. He loved what he did, approached his job with a great sense of humor and a sense of responsibility, and if you wandered about Providence in the last 20 years, you were sure to run into him doing a live report at some point. He probably asked you for a quote at the time. He loved man-on-the-street pieces. He also truly enjoyed catching wrong-doers “with their hands in the cookie jar,” and calling them out. Although he could always simplify a topic – that’s part of the job – he had a joyous appreciation for complexity and relished any chance to dive into a meaty topic.

I remember him being extremely excited when, at one point in his tenure at Channel 10, they gave him free reign to run his own after-broadcast online show. He did it with a web cam at his news desk, internet only. It had no budget, received no promotion, he wasn’t paid extra for it and almost no one watched. But he didn’t care about any of that – it was an opportunity to go in-depth, on any topic he felt mattered, with experts he picked and could talk to for an extra hour, an almost unheard of indulgence for an on-air reporter. It wasn’t talk radio – it was a real exercise of the mind exploring difficult topics, and that was pure joy for him.

It’s no surprise that most every politician in the state has expressed their admiration and condolences on one social medium or another in the past few days. He was respected, even by the people he often put on the spot.

Bill is survived by five daughters, Georgia, Anika, Chesley, Karma and Layla, as well as a full career’s worth of hard scrabble video clips and reports and an exceptional collection of fedoras. We will miss you, Rapp.

Granting Immunity: COVID vaccine roll-out stymied by lack of supply

“We’ve crossed the 30,000 doses mark… as of 9am,” said Dr. Philip Chan of the RI Department of Health (DoH) in a press briefing late in the afternoon on Friday, January 8. “This morning, 31,541 doses have been administered and 1,798 people were fully immunized, meaning they received their second and final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.” Vaccine Phase 1 eligible groups (Source: RI DoH)

Currently, RI is in Phase 1 of its vaccination plan, having begun the first three of five sub-phases. New sub-phases begin before the prior sub-phase has completed, so for example Phase 1.1 that includes nursing home staff and residents is still in progress although Phase 1.3 that includes firefighters, police officers, and hardest-hit communities has started. Phase 1.4 that includes dentists, dialysis center staff, and funeral home workers, is expected to start the week of January 25. Phase 1.5, otherwise healthy people at least 75 years old, is expected to start in February or March. The limiting factor is vaccine supply.

Vaccination progress as of Jan 5 (Source: RI DoH)

“We wish there was more vaccine available to people in Rhode Island right now, where we’re efficiently distributing what’s been given to us by the federal government and we’re limited by the doses that we’re getting nationally,” Chan said. “Currently, though, we are getting enough vaccine to vaccinate roughly 1.5% of the entire population of Rhode Island a week. It’s not a lot, but it’s definitely some and we’re getting there. We are hopeful that the supply will open up soon, and there’s some evidence that this may happen in the near future.” Vaccination timeline Phases 1-2 (Source: RI DoH)

Both of the two vaccines currently authorized, from Pfizer and Moderna, require two doses administered 3 to 4 weeks apart for full immunity. The Trump administration has been holding back half of the vaccine supply to make sure there are sufficient second doses, but the incoming Biden administration has been discussing a change in policy to ship out all vaccine as quickly as possible in hopes that production will increase in time to meet demand for second doses. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) within the World Heath Organization (WHO) last week strongly cautioned against skipping second doses, a suggestion that has been made by some as a means of extending the supply, citing the absence of clinical data for extending the time between doses beyond six weeks. (There is no maximum interval, and if an individual misses the six-week window then they should still get the second dose as soon as possible.) The UK has contemplated making a 12-week interval standard, but there is no clinical data to support this. Criteria for vaccine priority (Source: RI DoH)

RI has not yet specified eligibility for Phase 2. With the current supply of slightly fewer than 14,000 doses per week, it will take more than 21 weeks to fully vaccinate with two doses the estimated 150,000 people in Phase 1, implying a timeline extending into May or June without a substantial increase in supply. The RI DoH Vaccine Sub-Committee at the regular meeting on the morning of Friday, January 8, discussed the principles by which Phase 2 priorities could be allocated, taking into account age, occupation and geography. A number of members pointed out that the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) is already calculated by the CDC by census tract, and would provide direct socio-economic risk data rather than using geography as a proxy for it. Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) by census tract, more vulnerable is darker, centered on Central Falls (Source: US CDC)

RI stands in 13th place among the states in percentage of vaccine first doses administered out of those received, 30,264 of 72,175 (41.9%), as of Thursday, January 8, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). RI is also in 13th place for number of vaccinations administered per capita, 2,857 per 100,000 population. While RI is well ahead of the nation as a whole, which has administered 6,688,231 of 22,137,350 first doses (30.2%), the state lags most of its New England neighbors in per capita first doses per 100,000 population, behind Vermont (4th, 3,579), Connecticut (7th, 3,261), Maine (8th, 3,082), and New Hampshire (9th, 3,079), but ahead of Massachusetts (22nd, 2,197). By contrast, states in the Deep South (Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Arkansas) at the bottom of the list have both utilization rates of their supplied doses and per capita vaccination rates less than half that of RI.

A major concern throughout RI DoH is the need to get accurate and authoritative information out to the public. “We’re starting to get reports and have been getting reports from across the country, including here in Rhode Island, of simply inaccurate and false information related to vaccines and other aspects of COVID-19… I do want to, again, encourage people to seek out information from reliable sources, like your primary care provider, and not from social media or other sources that can really be questionable,” Chan said. “I want to again reiterate to people that myself along with my other physician colleagues, nurse practitioners, health care professionals, have taken an oath to keep people healthy. Literally our job is your health, and we base our actions and advice on science and evidence.”

No Rhode Islander Can Resist a Cabinet: Raimondo heads to DC, leaving a power vacuum in her wake

Governor Gina Raimondo is leaving the Ocean State for another job. News broke last week via a leak to The New York Times that President-elect Joe Biden was picking our two-term Rhode Island executive for commerce secretary. The decision comes after months, if not years, of rampant speculation. Raimondo, a rising Democrat within her own party, boasts moderate (read: conservative) credentials and is a stellar fundraiser for Democrats’ causes. Her appointment would be the first time in the state’s history that a sitting governor left office to accept a cabinet appointment.

Raimondo, a former venture capitalist and Rhodes scholar whose educational pipeline goes from Lasalle Academy to Harvard to Yale to Oxford, was first elected state treasurer in 2010. Her pension reform policies remain controversial to this day, with critics rebuking the sharp rise in fees paid to hedge fund managers and her lowering of entitlements. She defeated Ocean State blueblood scion Clay Pell and former Providence mayor Angel Taverez in the 2014 Democratic primary. She went on to defeat Allan Fung in the general (doing so again in a rematch in 2018) to become the Ocean State’s 75th governor.

As governor, Raimondo has boasted lowering the state’s employment rate (pre-COVID of course), pushing for more diversity in the state’s judiciary, reducing small business taxes and regulation, and moving the state toward clean energy. Her tenure has not been without controversy, however. The UHIP rollout disaster saw the state spend millions on a new computer system for government programs like childcare and food assistance only for the system to crash and create a backlog of 20,000 cases. DCYF has seen a rise in fatal or near-fatal incidents involving children under state care. Raimondo’s big push to reopen schools during the COVID crisis has come under sharp criticism from educators and parent groups across the state, as has the liability shield she gave nursing homes for the COVID crisis. COVID case rates and deaths continue to soar.

With Raimondo leaving with 18 months left on the clock, Lieutenant Governor Dan McKee is poised to inherit the top job in the state and cause a political seachange never seen in the state’s history. McKee will be empowered as governor to handpick his successor, making him move, to paraphrase a Providence Journal headline, from a forgotten man to the most powerful man in the state, almost overnight. According to researchers at the Rhode Island Secretary of State, the most recent time in history a state governor stepped down from the office was when John Pastore resigned to run for United States Senate in 1950.

McKee, a generation older than Raimondo (when he was Raimondo’s current age he was just getting elected mayor of Cumberland), is a few steps further to the right in the Democratic Party. During his time as lieutenant governor, McKee has been a big proponent of local small businesses and especially evangelical for the cause of charter schools in the Ocean State. A graduate of Cumberland High School, McKee owned and operated small businesses throughout the Blackstone Valley region. He first came to local politics in 1992 when he was elected to the Cumberland Town Council. He went on to serve 11 non-consecutive terms as mayor, starting in 2000 and ending in 2014 when he was elected the state’s 65th lieutenant governor.

Rhode Island’s political rumor mill, famous for being one of the state’s only remaining mills, went into overdrive this weekend as pundits speculated just whom McKee would choose to replace him as lieutenant governor. Three top names surfaced over the weekend: former Central Falls mayor James Diossa, Johnston mayor Joe Polisena, and state senator for District 12 Louis DiPalma. Twitter saw advocacy over the weekend as well when RI Democrat Women’s Caucus chair Liz Gledhill pressed McKee to choose a woman for the role. Several women have put their names forward, including former state senator Donna Nesselbush, current Woonsocket mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, and Lisa Ranglin, head of the RI Black Business Association.

While the role of lieutenant governor is generally known as the short stick of Rhode Island’s big statewide offices (Raimondo reportedly has ignored communications from Lieutenant Governor McKee and hasn’t met with him in person since 2019), McKee’s choice will have big implications in the next election. Both McKee and whomever he chooses to be lieutenant governor after him will serve out the remainder of the terms and be running for re-election within 18 months. Even prior to Raimondo’s announced ascendancy to a cabinet role, campaign wheels were turning among those who wanted to succeed her and McKee. Treasurer Seth Magaziner, Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea and Providence mayor Jorge Elorza were a few on the Democrat side widely expected to run in the party primary next year. Now what was an open primary turns into a race against an incumbent who has been in the job for more than a year.

Those seeking office for lieutenant governor are in the same boat. Former house rep Aaron Regunberg is the first to explore another run for lieutenant governor. Regunberg, one of the state’s most visible progressives, lost to McKee in 2018 by fewer than 3,000 votes. “I am excited to continue exploring another run for that office, and look forward to working to earn the support of my neighbors,” Regunberg said in a statement provided to Motif after the commerce secretary news broke. “Regardless of the political appointments that we may see in the coming months, it will be the voters of Rhode Island who will choose their next elected lieutenant governor in two years.”

The other general officers running congratulated Raimondo in their statements, and said they were looking forward to working with McKee. As of this writing, the transition is still being worked out, and McKee, in quarantine over the weekend from exposure to a close contact with COVID-19, has said little about whom he intends to appoint in his place.

New Treatment Available: Monoclonal antibody treatments for all eligible RI patients

A new treatment for COVID-19 patients is available in RI to anyone who tests positive and is age 65 or older, or has an underlying health condition: a one-shot infusion of monoclonal antibodies. It is most effective when administered as soon as possible after testing positive, and it is hoped that it can reduce severity of sickness and prevent hospitalization.

Monoclonal antibodies are one of the then-experimental treatments given to Donald Trump when he contracted the virus and was hospitalized several months ago, as we reported (“Trump has COVID-19 and it’s not ‘karma’ at all”, by Michael Bilow, Oct 2, 2020): “The AP also reported he received an ‘experimental antibody cocktail’ which The New York Times reported contains Regeneron, an experimental bio-engineered drug made by Eli Lilly, which is in a class of ‘monoclonal antibodies’ that can be designed against a wide range of specific targets, including viruses, cancers and autoimmune diseases.”

At the Department of Health (DoH) press briefing on Friday, January 8, Director Nicole Alexander-Scott said, “Rhode Island now has a doctor-recommended treatment for COVID-19 that is extremely effective at preventing people from developing severe disease and from being hospitalized because of COVID-19. The key, though, is starting early: The earlier you start treatment after testing positive, the better and more effective this can be. After completing a simple infusion, intravenously, of this treatment, many people with COVID-19 start feeling better as early as the next day. The treatment does not require hospitalization, and it’s intended to help prevent people from actually having to be hospitalized.”

Dr. Alexander-Scott has repeatedly emphasized her strategic priority of reducing hospitalizations to protect health care services from being overwhelmed, and this is a major reason the state is pushing the new monoclonal antibody treatment as a matter of policy in addition to its significant benefit to individual patients. Treatment for infection is the third major prong of the state’s pandemic response, along with testing and vaccination.

The goal is to give this monoclonal antibody infusion to as many eligible patients as possible by making the eligibility criteria automatic. Dr. Alexander-Scott said, “If you test positive for COVID-19 and are 65 years of age and older, or you have an underlying health condition, immediately call a health care provider and ask about treatments for COVID-19 you should start with your health care provider.” Patients who do not have a health care provider can access TeleCARE at Brown Emergency Medicine – brownemtelecare.org – to get this treatment, she said, and general information about treatments is available from the DoH website – covid.ri.gov/treatment – directly. “So remember, as we’re expanding testing and you’re getting tested, if you test positive and you qualify, access the treatment that’s available. It makes a difference.”

Dr. Alexander-Scott strongly encouraged the use of the new treatment. “It’s available right away now for everyone who is positive and who qualifies. It has to be ordered by a provider, so your provider has the information. We’ve worked closely with our providers to make sure they know where the resources are, where the infusion sites are, how to get their patient connected, and then we also have the Brown Emergency Medicine TeleCARE option that was described so that you could call and speak to a provider online: That provider can order it for you, get you connected immediately with an infusion site.”

Eventually, the plan is to have infusion sites co-located with larger testing sites, so that eligible patients can get the new treatment immediately after testing positive by a rapid test. “We’re working to build out as many different infusion sites as possible, particularly at places where there is a lot of testing already occurring, so that you can just go to the next room if you’re at one of our testing sites that’s able to accommodate this and get access to the treatment. We want to get at every element,” Dr. Alexander-Scott said. “Thank you to some of our local clinical sites also that are partnering with us to make sure that this treatment can be available in all of the different environments that would work well.”

Scot Free: Officers involved in Gonsalves moped crash will not be charged

Attorney General Peter Neronha announced today his office will press no charges against any officers involved with the Jhamal Gonsalves moped crash on October 18. The announcement from the AG’s office comes after a two and half month investigation. Jhamal Gonsalves had been driving a moped for the Ride Out rally on that day, before crashing and ending up in a coma at Rhode Island Hospital. The incident inspired protests against police brutality and sparked new conversations about policing in the community.

Colonel James Manni of Rhode Island State Police laid out the findings of the crash reconstruction unit. Manni announced the unit had found no damage to the cruiser from the moped and vice versa. The cruiser had crashed into the stop sign, sending the sign to hit Gonsalves on his helmet. Neronha found there was no criminal negligence in the conduct of the officers. He also announced that despite Endres calling other officers on the police radio to “box them in,” no officers responded to the radio call. Another officer, Officer McParlin, who was close to the crash at the time, did not respond to the call in anyway. “Boxing them in” refers to the practice of driving a person in the vicinity of another officer.

Neronha showed various audio, body cam footage and cell phone footage in laying out the his office’s finding. “We did not rely just on video,” said Neronha. The state police reenactment showed that the accident could not have happened in any way other than what the video and damage comparison showed. The only way for the stop sign to have hit Gonsalves on his head was for the cruiser to hit the stop sign and stop. Endres was slowing down in the last six seconds before the crash, hitting the stop sign at 18.5 mph. The attorney general said today they only presented scientific evidence, black box data from the cruiser, video gathered from the crash and scene reconstruction. He acknowledged statements from the officers and statements from the witnesses contradict each other.

“It’s not to say Officer Endres drove perfectly here,” says Neronha. The state police report opines the movement of the wheel form body cam footage is consistent with practices to avoid a collision.

“Proof of negligent driving is not enough,” said Neronha. The RI Supreme Court has a high standard for proving criminal negligence with driving. According to the Court, a minor driving offense is not enough to prove criminal action. Excessive speed, driving impairment, weaving in and out of traffic, texting while driving, tailgating, failure to break are the behavior needed to be involved according to the highest court. “

“It’s the kind of thing when you travel down [interstate] 95 you know when you see it.” said the attorney general. “It’s the guy in front of you driving like maniac.” Neronha cited two Supreme Court cases, State v. Arnold and Watkins v South County, where the judge set the standard for criminal negligence.

Providence Public Safety Commissioner Pare stated there would be accountability for the incident from within the department, with more being announced soon.

Mr. Speaker: named Speaker of the House Rep. Joe Shekarchi is officially the new Speaker of the House in Rhode Island. The state’s House of Representatives met today for the first meeting of the new legislative session. Shekarchi became speaker-presumptive last fall, shortly after then-Speaker Nicholas Mattiello lost his race to Barbara Fenton-Fung in District 16.

“The COVID crisis has dealt a crippling blow to our communities and our state,” said Shekarchi in his first speech to the assembly as Speaker, also promising that his approach in office would be different in a clear nod to his predecessor’s prickly personality. Shekrachi was a prime mover in getting the budget passed for the current fiscal year in the lame duck session.

In the days leading up to the new session, he also came under fire for his background as an evictions lawyer and comments concerning the minimum wage and progressive members of the house.

Shekrachi was nominated by Rep. and seconded by Rep. . Both spoke highly of Shekarchi’s willingness to listen to the representatives, stressing that he does not impose his viewpoints on others. “A vote for Joe Shekrachi today is an affirmation to our constituents that we are ready to get to work on their behalf.”

Mike Chippendale (District 40) on the Republican side nominated Minority Leader Blake Fillipi for Speaker, speaking favorably of Fillipi’s willingness to work across the aisle, as well as his passion for the U.S. Constitution and libertarian causes. Fillipi’s nomination was seconded by , who promised if given the votes for House leadership and budget, the budget would look radically different under Fillipi leadership.

Final vote tally was 59 votes for Shekarchi, 9 for Fillipi, and four abstentions. Reps. Cassar, Morales, McGaw and Henries abstained from the House leadership vote. Cassar announced a run for Speaker originally when Mattiello held the position. The other three reps made a point of abstaining from the leadership vote. The Rhode Island Political Cooperative, rapidly becoming the state’s preeminent progressive politic organization, called last week for House representatives to abstain from today’s leadership vote. The Co-op in a statement said, “Joe Shekarchi represents nothing more than a continuation of the corruption we have seen under past Speakers.” The statement goes on to claim that Shekarchi has taken more than 300 donations from lobbyists. Notably absent was Barbara Fenton-Fung, not attending for reasons related to COVID-19. While her vote did not count in absentia, in a prepared statement from her read by the clerk, Fenton-Fung stated that had she been there, she would have voted for Shekarchi, officially breaking with her party. Also absent with messages read by the clerk were (out with a serious bout of COVID-19) and Art Handy. Both stated they would have voted for Shekarchi.

Shekarchi appointed Rep. to chair the rules committee, with Reps. Michael O’Brien and Camille Vella-Wilkinson serving as vice chairs. Other reps on the committee include , Julie Casimiro, Grace Diaz, Katherine Kazarian, Brian Kennedy, Alex Marszalkowski, Joe McNamara, Brian Newberry, Robert Phillips, David Place, Pat Serpa, Evan Shanley, Scott Slater and .

The next meeting of the Rhode Island House of Representatives will be on January 19.