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Harrisburg State Hospital Closing
Voicing Concerns
Employees ponder plans to close state hospital
Friday, January 07, 2005
BY BILL SULON
Of The Patriot-News
Christean Walker and Shelly Purdie know their jobs are at risk,
but they care more about what will happen to their patients.
The two psychiatric aides at Harrisburg State Hospital were among
several hundred workers who met yesterday at the hospital chapel.
They heard details of plans to transfer patients, and in some cases
employees, to other facilities across the state, including community
homes.
Walker, 29, of Ickesburg, tried to explain her concerns to the hospital's
chief executive, Charles Rosenberry.
"I said nobody on the planet is going to take care of our patients
the way we do," she said. "He told me, in front of everybody,
that if I truly cared for my patients, I would have never said that."
Walker didn't get a chance to tell Rosenberry how she wants only
what's best for the 260 patients, despite all that she endures.
"I have been beaten up, punched, kicked, slapped. I've had
nasty tampons thrown at my face. I've been choked," she said.
"The amount that we go through, the general population will
never know, because we protect the public so that won't happen to
them. And we protect our patients."
Over the next 12 months, 135 patients will be transferred to community
homes across the state, and the remaining 125 patients, as well
as any new patients that might be admitted through June, will be
transferred to state hospitals in Danville and Wernersville.
Some of the 539 employees will be offered jobs at those state hospitals,
while others are likely to find employment in other state-run facilities
in the Harrisburg area, Rosenberry told the workers.
About 100 jobs will be created at each facility to handle the expected
patient transfers.
Walker, who has been employed at the hospital for nearly three years,
said she worries about the needs of patients who will be transferred
to community homes.
"Mental illness is not widely accepted in communities,"
she said. "My main concern is they're not going to be treated
right in the communities. The communities aren't prepared for them,
not trained for them. And there's nobody in the private sector that
will be able to take care of them the way we take care of them."
Purdie, a Harrisburg resident who has worked at the hospital for
more than four years, said patients and their families have been
left in the dark about the upcoming changes.
"No one is saying what will happen to our patients, or the
inconvenience to their families," she said. "The patients
are being left out of the loop, and are the communities going to
be able to take care of their physical needs? No. There are a lot
of things that will get overlooked."
In a letter distributed yesterday to the employees, Aidan Altenor,
director of the Bureau of Hospital Relations, said "appropriate
community placement will be made" for patients after a "thorough
evaluation of their needs and collaboration with family members
have been completed."
Ron Minnich, a 28-year-old therapeutic recreation specialist, said
the meeting yesterday was "more or less the dagger people have
been waiting for." He said he did not expect many employees
would jump at the opportunity, if offered, to commute to Danville,
65 miles north of Harrisburg, or Wernersville, 63 miles east.
"It gets down to distance for a lot of people," he said.
"I've only been here a year and a half. I feel worse for some
of the people who have been here 20, 30 years."
Minnich, who lives in Lykens, said he and other workers will be
able to adjust to new careers, either at other state facilities
or elsewhere. He said it will not be as easy for patients to adjust.
"These people here care a lot for these patients," Minnich
said. "We built relationships with them."
BILL SULON: 255-8144 or bsulon@patriot-news.com
Copyright 2005 PennLive.com.
All Rights Reserved.
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