OPELOUSAS, La. (KLFY) An Opelousas family wants to increase awareness for those with disabilities as they continue to remember a loved one lost.
News 10’s Rodricka Taylor joins us with their story.
“My brother died as a result of neglect while under the care of a provider, and our whole family was devastated. Just totally devastated.”
Kim Smith says her brother, Brett Lanclos, 50 had a brain injury since birth that caused him to need 24-hour supervision.
“Brett was everything to our family, and we were with him every day.”
They say he was enrolled in the program and while on the bus, that picked him up daily, he choked to death on a sandwich.
Lanclos’ mother now recalls getting the call about her son being taken to the hospital.
She says since his death, she can’t function.
“I am so lost because. When I woke up in the morning, my whole focus was going to be with Brett.”
The family says the bus had no oversight.
“We feel like this could have been prevented had they had an aid on the bus to watch him. To monitor the clients on that bus.”
The Lanclos family says the facility has not given them any answers and so they have tried to get some answers as to what happened at the state level but also haven’t gotten very far.
“I think it’s going to take some legislation to make sure that certain things are in place for better protection for people with disabilities.”
Now they are only left with memories.
“He and I used to go outside and watch the sun go up and come down, but he’s not here anymore.”