|
Index
| Advocate
| News
| Background
| Process
NAMI Pennsylvania
Harrisburg State Hospital Closing Process
Contact: Sue Walther, Mental Health Association
717-346-0549
swalther@mhapa.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 6, 2004
MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCATES APPLAUD STATE HOSPITAL CLOSING
HARRISBURG: The mental health advocacy community in Pennsylvania
has enthusiastically endorsed the decision by the state Department
of Public Welfare to close Harrisburg State Hospital, an institution
for people who have mental illnesses. “As someone who has
experienced mental illness and who has been hospitalized in a state
institution, I can tell you that such places are not fit for anyone,”
said Bob Manrodt, a Pennsylvania resident. “People belong
in the community, where they can have the same opportunities as
everyone wants: a decent place to live; meaningful employment and/or
volunteer work; friends; and the chance to marry, rear children,
practice their religion, join clubs, enjoy hobbies - in short, to
live a meaningful life.” “For someone who has never
been in an institution, the stark contrast between community and
institutional life is difficult to imagine,” said Sue Walther,
executive director of the Mental Health Association in Pennsylvania.
“But those who have can attest to the fact that people with
even the most serious mental illnesses, including those with the
least relief from their symptoms, can be served much more effectively
in the community than within the walls of a state institution.”
Advocates point to the closing of Philadelphia State Hospital (PSH)
as an example. When PSH closed its doors in 1990, the dollars supporting
the hospital followed the patients into the community, to establish
a system of community-based care that has become a national model.
Five years later, a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that
the overwhelming majority of those released from PSH when it closed
were living successfully in the community.
Since 1990, Pennsylvania has closed six state mental hospitals following
a national trend towards community integration versus institutional
warehousing for people with mental illnesses. The importance of
community integration to the recovery of people with serious mental
illnesses has been endorsed by such experts as the Surgeon General’s
Office (in its 1999 report, “Mental Health: A Report of the
Surgeon General”) and by the President’s New Freedom
Commission on Mental Health in its 2003 report. After the closing
of Haverford State Hospital in 1998 and the subsequent release of
her son, Mary Ellen Rehrman, director of Policy & Legislation
for the Family Training & Advocacy Center for Serious Mental
Illness, was ecstatic. “It was the most wonderful thing that
ever happened to all of us,” she said. Rehrman’s son
was in the hospital for 15 years. “A key element to recovery
is self-determination,” said Mary Kohut, executive director
of the Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers’ Association.
“If there were no other reason to get people out of institutions
and into the community, the chance to make their own choices –
even about something as simple as when to step outside to check
on the weather — would be enough.” Pennsylvania statewide
organizations that support the decision to close the state hospital
include: Family Training & Advocacy Center for Serious Mental
Illness, Mental Health Association in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania
Mental Health Consumers' Association, and Pennsylvania Protection
and Advocacy, Inc.
|
