Why Allentown State Hospital Should Stay Open

When I parked inside the Allentown State Hospital campus at high noon yesterday, the first thing I noticed were the mounds of acorns that seemed to be scattered everywhere.

Nuts!

I crunched along these shells, making my way to a small band of about twenty union workers, one of whom adorned her overcoat with a little groundhog doll in honor of Groundhog Day. They were nice people, and they were obviously concerned about losing their jobs. I expected that. But what I did not expect was that they really care about the residents at the state hospital, who are incapable of speaking for themselves.

State Representatives Doug Reichley and Steve Samuelson both spoke eloquently, and Reichley's remarks to me were posted here yesterday. Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski did drop by to express his hope that jobs could be saved.

Mike Baker, an Income Maintenance Caseworker at the Lehigh County Assistance Office ans Chairperson of SEIU Local 668 Chapter 13, organized yesterday's rally, and had this to say.

We are employees of Allentown State Hospital (ASH), providing intensive inpatient mental heath services to residents of Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Carbon and Pike counties. We are the proud members of SEIU Local 668, AFSCME and other union and employee organizations. We are state legislators and local officials concerned about patients and workers of the hospital.

We are protesting the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare's decision to close ASH effective Dec. 31, 2010. On Sept. 25, 2009, the state gave SEIU Local 668 a 30-day notice of possible furloughs. In October of 2009, DPW was asked by State Representative Mario Civera whether it was true that the hospital was being closed and shortly thereafter The Morning Call ran a story on the state's announced plan to close ASH. DPW responded there were no plans to do so at that time. When repeatedly asked about a possible closing, DPW continued to say the same thing. On Dec. 17, 2009, several state legislators wrote DPW Secretary of Welfare Estelle Richman asking to meet with her or a representative from her office over the reduction in patient population to 115 patients. Richman and DPW never responded to the request until early Thursday morning, Jan. 28, 2010, when acting Secretary of Welfare Harriet Dichter asked to meet with the legislators to inform them of the closing. That same morning, I received phonecalls from hospital workers and SEIU Local 668 President Kathy Jellison telling me DPW was closing the hospital and asking me to attend a meeting at the hospital that day the state was having with union stewards at the hospital. So after months of being asked by unions and state representatives whether the hospital was being closed, the state gave two hours notice of a meeting to announce the closing! Even though hospital workers and the unions suspected DPW would close the hospital, the fact that it gave such short notice of the closing proved that DPW had been planning the closing for a long time.

DPW has announced that it will be holding a public hearing from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 22, 2010, at Four Points by Sheraton Hotel & Suites, 3400 Airport Rd., Allentown, to accept comment about the closure from stakeholders, officials and the community, with those wishing to provide comments asked to register by contacting Beth Neston at (610) 740-3409. DPW should have held public hearings before making the decision to close the hospital! We urge the public, patients, families of patients and other interested parties to attend the hearing and make known any objections to the hospital's closing. Right now there are few community facilities with slots available to handle patients who are not being transferred to Wernersville State Hospital (WSH). Even if there were, these facilities don't have the worker stability ASH has due to lower pay and benefits, which are issues the state and community facilities need to address. Make no mistake about it, the closing of ASH is not so much a move by the state because of its “commitment to reducing its reliance on institutional care and improving access to home and community-based services for Pennsylvanians living with mental illness” or to reintegrate patients into communities as desired by several mental health organizations as it is to primarily save money. It remains to be seen if the $35.3 million/year allocated for ASH will “follow the patient.” The state's intention to place workers into other state jobs is an attempt, not a promise, and will be difficult in light of state worker layoffs in 2009.

ASH has been underutilized and currently has a patient waiting list due to not having more staff. Community facilities that DPW wants to place ASH patients in currently also have waiting lists. If the state goes through with closing ASH and transfers 65 patients to WSH, the families of those patients will have to drive 90 or more minutes to visit them. In the future, if ASH closes, and patients need to be admitted to a state hospital, patients from Lehigh and Northampton counties will be admitted to WSH and patients from Carbon, Monroe and Pike counties will be admitted to Clarks Summit State Hospital. How often will their family and friends be able to visit them then?

SEIU Local 668 understands the reluctance of state legislators to raise taxes and accordingly has provided examples of wasteful spending and ways to streamline state government that could save the state more than $1 billion per year, which would have gone a long way to help solve the 2009 state budget crisis and help in balancing future state budgets. These were provided to the Governor and to the House Appropriations Committee by testimony of 668 officers and through the lobbying of 668 members in 2009. We urge the Governor and state legislators to implement these suggestions and fairly fund social services in the state budget and not close ASH, as well as work to further extend Unemployment Compensation benefits and implement other revenue sources such as closing tax loopholes that allow out-of-state businesses to operate in Pennsylvania without paying taxes.

Contact SEIU Local 668 President Kathy Jellison, who was a social worker at Torrance State Hospital for many years, at 1-800-932-0368 with questions or for further comments.

For more information on 668’s examples of wasteful state spending and ways to streamline state government that would save more than $1billion/year, please go to www.seiu668.org.

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