PITTSBURGH, Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ — Two hundred and eighty eight mental health advocates from all areas of the state of Pennsylvania have sent a petition to Governor Rendell. Their concerns stem from increased difficulty in obtaining care for persons with severe mental illness since the governor’s office began downsizing psychiatric state hospital beds. The petition is included below as well as the signatures of the three Pittsburgh-area psychiatrists who spearheaded the petition drive. The two hundred and eighty- eight co-signers represent leading mental health advocates across the state – persons with mental illness, family members, physicians, psychiatrists, therapists, nurses, consumer advocates, business leaders and citizens. For a complete list of signers or for more information please contact Dr. Suzanne Vogel-Scibilia, Medical Director, Beaver County Psychiatric Services, 724-775-9152 or at Email: [email protected].
The following petition has been sent to Governor Rendell: Petition:
We wish to express our strong opposition to any further downsizing or closing of state psychiatric hospitals in Pennsylvania. We represent a broad geographic and vocational spectrum of 288 state citizens, clients, family members and professionals, who are concerned and affected by the cutting of such services, and we fear the consequences for our communities. We feel that our concerns have not been addressed adequately by Governor Rendell’s staff at OMHSAS.
The recent closing of Harrisburg State Hospital highlights this concern. Nine months after the technical closure in January of 2006, over 24 clients still remain on the hospital grounds without a specific date of transfer. For the clients returned to the community, the funds for increased community services and programs offer inadequate assistance given the huge service deficits currently present in many Pennsylvania counties. This has long been known as a significant problem throughout our state. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (http://www.nami.org/grades) gave Pennsylvania’s 2006 mental health care system a D+ grade in a scientifically designed nation-wide evaluation.
As has been shown for over 40 years nationwide, the idea that some of the chronic mentally ill can be treated humanely and effectively without a long term treatment facility is wishful thinking. Scientific studies have shown that as state hospital beds decrease, the number of persons with mental illness imprisoned increases proportionally. Judge Michael J. Barrasse, Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas (Phone 570-963-6452), has publicly expressed concern about the impact on the Pennsylvania’s prisons and justice system if the number of state hospital beds decline without a change in Pennsylvania’s current psychiatric service system. Persons with mental illness deserve better than to be placed in jails because of inadequate psychiatric state hospital capacity or viable outpatient community placements, and taxpayers should not be forced to assume the triple financial burden of increased inmates, more critically ill medical patients and expanding numbers of homeless.
Due to current comments from OMHSAS of Pennsylvania to community providers, many advocates believe the next hospital to close may be Mayview State Hospital. The Pittsburgh area has already begun to feel the damaging effects of reduced bed availability as this facility is down-sized. Our sickest clients can not obtain admission, spaces on acute inpatient psychiatric wards are less available to the community at large, increased numbers of inadequately-treated mentally ill patients are ending up homeless, dropping out of treatment or warehoused in jail; while pre-trial mentally ill jail inmates are waiting excessively for a forensic evaluation and treatment. These consequences escalate costs to local communities on many levels.
Pennsylvanians do not have a comprehensive, state-wide, written plan delineating the process of state hospital closures. We all agree that people with severe and persistent mental illness recover best when treated in the community; but the extreme current shortage of state hospital beds robs individuals with severe disease of the only safety net to prevent harm and jeopardizes recovery when the illness prevents living in our communities. Given the current services needs for consumers in Pennsylvania, the current state hospital system provides a necessary resource for safe care to individuals with severe and persistent mental illness who have failed to respond to treatment by other less restrictive means.
We call on Governor Rendell to speak directly to the voters of Pennsylvania, not to state whether any current plans exist or do not exist, but rather to make a firm and sincere campaign promise prior to this election to not close or down-size further state hospital beds in Pennsylvania. We ask this because of current inadequacies in community resources and the lack of a state-wide comprehensive plan for closure and placement. We await Governor Rendell’s response.
Signed: Suzanne Vogel-Scibilia MD Medical Director, Beaver County Psychiatric Services, Beaver, PA 15009 David Ness MD Psychiatrist, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, PA Christine Martone MD Psychiatrist, Allegheny County Jail, Pittsburgh, PA
Beaver County Psychiatric Services
CONTACT: Dr. Suzanne Vogel-Scibilia, Medical Director of Beaver CountyPsychiatric Services, +1-724-775-9152, or [email protected]
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