Psychiatric staff fights state cuts
BRONX Psychiatric Center workers picketed outside the beleaguered facility last week to protest layoffs and bed closures ordered by Gov. Cuomo.
The union workers waved signs and shouted slogans at Waters Place and Eastchester Road in Morris Park, claiming the cuts are hurting their Bronx patients.
“Stop the layoffs! Keep the Bronx safe!” hollered Roslyn Akinware, 50, a mental hygiene therapy assistant from Co-op City.
The state Office of Mental Health has closed two wards with roughly 50 beds at Bronx Psychiatric and plans to downsize about 80 full- and part-time workers on May 31, said Abraham Benjamin, CSEA Local 401 President.
“Cuomo wants to balance the budget on the backs of people in the Bronx,” Akinware said.
OMH will “aggressively market” downsized staff to find them new government jobs, said a spokesman, noting that New York manages more psychiatric beds than any other state.
The Cuomo administration is shedding beds throughout the state to save money and transfer more patients to community homes run by private nonprofits.
“Inpatient psychiatric hospitalization is appropriate for some individuals, but for most people, treatment and recovery are better accomplished in the commu- nity,” said the OMH spokeswoman.
But Benjamin claims the closures will cost the state money because many Local 401 members will end up working overtime.
Bronx Psychiatric is already understaffed and layoffs will exacerbate the problem, he said. The Daily News reported in January that Bronx Psychiatric safety officer Charles Young last year earned $119,031 in overtime.
The center includes 360 inpa- tient beds and an outpatient program. OMH closed a Bronx Psychiatric ward for elderly patients last fall and closed a ward for female trauma victims last month.
Many patients from the shuttered wards are now housed with younger patients and male patients, said Benjamin, describing the situation as dangerous.
Some patients from the closed wards are moving to group homes and outpatient programs.
Andrew Coates, an Albany doctor and an authority on psychiatric policy who treats mentally ill patients, said the shift from hospital to community care makes sense.
But OMH is moving too fast, he said. It previously gave 12 months notice before closing a ward or psychiatric center, but last year changed the notice period to from 30 to 60 days.
“Abrupt closures without sufficient community infrastructure are irresponsible policy,” said Coates, a Public Employees Federation union member.
Outpatients with insufficient care often end up in jail or the emergency room, he said.
The state recently called off the closing of Kingsboro Psychiatric Center in Brooklyn after legislators objected. It had planned to send patients from the 290-bed facility to South Beach Psychiatric Center in Staten Island.