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Harrisburg State Hospital Closing
As patients go, hospital closing is on track
Assessments allocate discharges, transfers
Friday, May 20, 2005
BY DAVID WENNER
Of The Patriot-News
The state has begun transferring Harrisburg State Hospital patients
to other state hospitals and says it's on course to close the facility
by year's end.
The state Department of Public Welfare expected to
transfer 18 patients this week, after transferring nine during the
previous two weeks, said Joan Erney, head of the department's Office
of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.
The hospital might stop accepting new patients in
mid-June, provided Philhaven is able to open a 12-bed extended acute
care unit for people who need up to 90 days of hospitalization,
Erney said.
The public welfare department announced in January
it will close Harrisburg State Hospital by the end of the year.
At least half of the 265 patients will be discharged
into community programs in surrounding counties, and the rest will
be transferred to state hospitals in Wernersville and Danville.
The department still does not know when the first
patients will be discharged, spokeswoman Stacey Ward said.
The department is negotiating with PinnacleHealth
System, Holy Spirit Hospital and York Hospital to provide more beds
of the kind Philhaven is offering, Erney said.
Erney also said the department has finished assessing
200 of the 265 patients to determine whether they will be discharged
or transferred. It appears more than half will be discharged, she
said.
The assessments sometimes result in disagreements
over whether a patient should be transferred or discharged, but
most participants are satisfied, Erney said.
Maria Morrison, whose 63-year-old mother has been
at the hospital since 1985, criticized the assessment process. She
had expected her mother to remain in the hospital for the rest of
her life, she said.
"I'm not confident they're not going to try to
move her out into the community," Morrison said.
The state has promised to fund county-based programs,
and mental health administrators for Dauphin and Cumberland-Perry
said they're satisfied with the state's efforts so far.
DAVID WENNER: 255-8172 or dwenner@patriot-news.com
©2005 The Patriot-News
© 2005 PennLive.com
All Rights Reserved.
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