Boy dies after illness at offender camp : Specialists investigating cause of death

June 25, 2006
By Greg Martin

For Pamela Peak of Punta Gorda, it should have been a happy time.

She was driving to pick up her 14-year-old son, who had successfully completed a six-month program for juvenile offenders at the Peace River Outward Bound camp in DeSoto County. He was set to be released that afternoon.

Instead, it became a mother's worst nightmare, a bedside vigil that would end a month later with her son's death.

As she drove toward the the camp, located along the Peace River off Kings Highway, Peak got a phone call from camp administrators. They informed her that her son, Dillon Peak, had been taken to DeSoto Memorial Hospital earlier that morning.

The hospitalization came after staffers found the boy incoherent and suffering seizures, his mother said.

Then, she learned it was the second time in four days that Dillon had been taken to the hospital. The first time, the boy, who was suffering from strep throat and a fever of 104, was given Tylenol and released -- back to the Outward Bound program where he resided with several other boys in a tent.

This time, however, Dillon was transferred to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.

At some point, he slipped into a coma. He died a month later, on June 17.

"He was just getting out that (May 17) date; he never got to go home," his mother said.

"It never should have happened," said the boy's grandfather, Paul Godwin of Punta Gorda.

Godwin was interviewed as he sat in a lawn chair in front of his house on Fairway Drive, where family members had gathered after a service at Indian Springs Cemetery.

With a pair of dark sunglasses concealing his eyes, Godwin sat silent for a moment before stoically waving off further questions.

Several dust-covered sport utility vehicles parked in the yard had the words "in memory of Dillon" written on their back windows.

The boy's family is now convinced Dillon died because he failed to receive appropriate medical care.

Both the inspector general of the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Pinellas County Medical Examiner's Office have opened investigations into the boy's death.

Among the questions to be answered are whether Outward Bound should have notified the boy's parents the first time he became ill.

"It's bad, because if we would have been notified he was sick, we could have treated his strep throat," said Pamela Peak.

Also in question is whether the Outward Bound staff should have done more to treat Dillon at the camp.

The Department of Juvenile Justice may require contractors to beef up the medical services they provide in the future, if the investigation recommends it, said department spokeswoman Cynthia Lorenzo.

The local Outward Bound had employees trained in CPR and first aid, and an off-site doctor had been retained for consultations. But no nurse or doctor is stationed at the Peace River center, said Jon Howard, director of the program.

He said the level of medical services at the center complies with the minimum standard set by the Department of Juvenile Justice for its contract.

A Juvenile Justice department performance evaluation report for 2005 indicates the Peace River program has performed at an "acceptable" level and is in "full compliance."

"We're reviewing the whole status from beginning to end," Howard said. "Based on that review, if any changes are recommended, we would do them."

Pamela Peak said program administrators have told her they will counsel employees to provide better care in the future. But that won't help her son, she said.

She described Dillon as a very active boy who loved to fish, hunt and work on his bikes.

He was set to attend Punta Gorda Middle School once his term at Outward Bound was completed.

"He always wore a hat, wore earrings and had a smile on his face," Pamela said. "If somebody was getting into trouble, he was the first to try to straighten it out. He was like a peacemaker."

After Hurricane Charley damaged the family's house, the family moved into the FEMA trailer park on Airport Road. And Dillon fell in with the wrong type of kids, his mother said.

He was with two kids who stole a golf cart from the Pines apartment complex, Pamela Peak said.

"He caught a ride on the back of the golf cart, and that made him an accessory to grand theft," she said.

Her son and several friends also got caught trespassing within a damaged area of East Elementary School, she said.

As a consequence, Dillon was sentenced to a stint in the Outward Bound program.

His mother was shocked by the condition in which she found her son the day he was to graduate.

He was wearing only a T-shirt, boxer shorts, one sock and two shoes.

"He was just laying there, eyes open, but he didn't know who we were," his mother said.

Pamela said her son's doctors have theorized the boy sustained a rare type of encephalitis on top of the strep throat. But an official cause of death remains pending.

The Pinellas County Medical Examiner's Office has conducted an autopsy, but the coroner is awaiting test results before reaching a conclusion, said Bill Pellan, spokesman for the office.

"I can tell you this does not appear to be any type of traumatic death," Pellan said. "This looks like a medical cause."

A spokeswoman for All Children's Hospital declined to discuss details of the case, citing confidentiality laws.

Peak was "treated and discharged appropriately" from the DeSoto County hospital, said that hospital's spokeswoman, Annie Curnow.

"I can tell you that an array of tests were run," she said.

Outward Bound two weeks ago brought in environmental health specialists to evaluate the center and a campground where the boys had canoed earlier in the summer, Howard confirmed.

No public health risk has been found.

A check with the Centers for Disease Control shows that both strep and encephalitis infections can become severe and fatal.

Some 2 million cases of strep infection are reported each year, but only 9,000 cases are considered severe enough to be life-threatening, according to a report on the CDC's Web site.

Another CDC report indicates that encephalitis, which is borne by mosquitoes, can occur after or in combination with an unrelated infection.

Since Dillon's hospitalization, the Peace River facility moved boys from tents, which have wooden floors and house up to six campers, into dormitories, Howard said.

However, some of the boys may be moved back into the tents soon, once reports on environmental health are completed, he said.

The Peace River Outward Bound program is one of five juvenile rehabilitation programs operated by the contractor, Hurricane Island Outward Bound, based in Tallahassee.

The local facility is one of 10 residential facilities for low-risk juvenile offenders in the state. Low-risk offenders are typically those who have committed crimes no more serious than third-degree felonies.

The 35-bed Peace River facility currently houses 20 students and employs 25 staffers.

Typically, the facility's program takes six months to complete, but some boys take as long as a year, Howard said.

By GREG MARTIN

Staff Writer