[NYAPRS Enews] PJ: Hudson River PC Closing On Track

[Harvey Rosenthal]

NYAPRS Note: The following piece details local and state workforce
objections to the planned closing of Hudson River PC, a development best
summarized by local Assemblyman Molinaro: "this is what a budget crisis
looks like."

 

Turmoil Begins For Staff, Patients Over Closing Hudson River Psychiatric
Center

by Craig Wolf  Poughkeepsie Journal  May 31, 2011

 

The planned closing of the Hudson River Psychiatric Center later this
year remains on track despite some efforts to avert it.

It is a casualty of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan, adopted by the
Legislature, to trim expenses in the state Office of Mental Health and
close a yawning overall state budget gap that was estimated at $10
billion.

Employees remain in a quandary about the looming loss of jobs. Under the
rules on layoffs, it's the employees who have the least seniority in job
titles being reduced who get laid off until the desired number of cuts
has been reached. The more senior staffers may get to keep jobs, but
other than those working at community outpatient facilities, they will
have to find openings at other sites. If they take them, they may be
able to "bump" less senior people at those sites, or "retreat" to
lower-paid positions.

"Everybody is waiting for the seniority list, so people could see where
they stood," said Margaret Ayuko-Williams, a registered nurse from
Poughkeepsie, who along with a group of other employees from the center
sat down May 18 with the Journal for an interview.

The local impacts are heavy:

* Closing the center will throw about 375 employees into a nerve-racking
game of musical chairs in which many will lose their jobs and the rest
must decide whether to relocate - mainly to distant counties.

* Mentally ill patients in some cases will be uprooted from what has
been their home and moved to Rockland Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg,
a few miles from the New Jersey border.

* The closing will draw most of the estimated $20 million payroll out of
the economy, along with much of the spending for food, supplies and
utilities.

* Families of the ill will need to travel to Rockland at greater expense
and loss of time to travel. Family involvement in patient recovery,
deemed important by professionals, will suffer.

* Only Hudson River is being closed among the state's 28 facilities,
though some wards are being shut at 10 other sites.

 

Fight To Stay Open

The Cuomo administration is closing the wrong place, said state Sen.
Steve Saland, R-Poughkeepsie, adding that the center has scored high in
federal ratings while Kingsboro Psychiatric Center in New York City has
failed, withdrawn from Medicaid and thus lost $22.5 million in Medicaid
money for the state.

"Why close certified beds and keep substandard uncertified beds open?"
Saland wrote to Cuomo. "Rather, move the uncertified beds and federally
unfunded beds at this center to certified and funded beds at other
facilities planned for closure."

Saland first wrote to Cuomo on May 13 calling the closure a "devastating
blow" and asking for a meeting with him or an aide, but said he hasn't
gotten a response.

The statewide closing of wards at 10 sites plus closing Hudson River
Psychiatric Center will reduce about $25 million in state expense this
year and about $50 million annually, said Morris Peters, a spokesman for
the state Division of the Budget. The Hudson River center portion is
expected to save $9 million this year and about $19.6 million annually.

While Saland, joined by Assemblyman Joel Miller, R-Poughkeepsie, is
trying to get Cuomo to reconsider the shutdown, Assemblyman Marc
Molinaro, R-Red Hook, said his calls to the Governor's Office were about
care given to patients and ensuring "that we can continue to provide
it," but not necessarily about an outcome that is something less than a
full shutdown.

"This, unfortunately, is what a budget crisis looks like," Molinaro
said.

There's a 1996 state Supreme Court injunction holding up the closure
now.

The Civil Service Employees Association, a union representing many of
the workers at Hudson River, obtained the injunction in a previous era
of downsizing, and it remains in effect.

Steve Madarasz, a spokesman at the union in Albany, said the state has
gone back to court to try to get the injunction lifted so the downsizing
can proceed.

"I don't think that's going to preclude them from moving forward on
layoffs," he said.

"All of the services for people with mental illness are being undermined
at the same time," Madarasz said, "and by the way, impacting the
economy. For Gov. Cuomo to claim any success out of this is missing the
real issue."

Jill Daniels, a spokeswoman for the Office of Mental Health, said,
"There is not a finalized plan in place while the injunction is in
place," and that much of the detail about the consolidation can't be
made final yet.

The criteria the agency used to decide how to downsize included the
relatively low bed capacity compared to other psychiatric centers.
Another was that the Hudson River center serves only three counties,
which covers less square mileage than any other upstate facility. It
also has the lowest number of admissions.

Rockland is able to quickly open up three wards to take the Poughkeepsie
clientele, Daniels said.

 

Patients Will Suffer

The diminished family role will hurt, said Dr. Anthony Sciarrone of
Fishkill, a psychiatrist for 20 years, the most recent one spent at
Hudson River Psychiatric Center. He said he had never seen a
mental-health care system as well integrated as the one centered on this
hospital.

"In other places, I've never written as many passes for family members
taking them (patients) out," he said. "It's an integral part of
treatment."

Patients are asking, "Do you know where I'm going?" said Laurie Myint, a
residential program assistant at an outpatient home. "And we have no
answers for them. The clients are really frightened. The program that
I'm in, that home is closing."

Sciarrone said that when clients hear they're going to Rockland, they're
scared.

Barrie Campbell, president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness
Mid-Hudson, which involves families of the ill, said the organization's
research has found the availability of family members aids patient
progress.

"When they have family involved, the outcomes are better than when they
do not," he said.

Suzanne Manning, a social worker at Hudson River who lives in
Poughkeepsie, formerly worked at Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center, which
was closed in 1994.

"This is going to impact my job, my family, even some of my volunteer
stuff will be affected," she said. As for patients, while many can be
treated in community residences, not all can, she said.

"It's quality care that isn't duplicated in the community," she said.

Saint Francis Hospital in the Town of Poughkeepsie maintains a
psychiatric ward, but has downsized, citing poor rates of reimbursement
for costly care. Its function is to stabilize new patients, but is not
geared for long-term inpatient care.

Steven Tesoriero of Kingston , a program manager at Hudson River
Psychiatric Center's Edgewood residence, said, "I understand the
financial difficulty of the state and that they want more of the
patients (to live) in the community, but to have this on the backs of
the poorest and sickest residents of the community is egregious. They
can't fight back."

Business also will suffer, said Mary Casale of the Town of Poughkeepsie,
who is a residential program assistant.

"It's going to be devastating to the stores and the delis that serve
us," she said.

 

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20110601/BUSINESS/106010336/T
urmoil-begins-staff-patients-over-closing-Hudson-River-Psychiatric-Cente
r?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|PoughkeepsieJournal.com 

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