The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
$1.25M proposed to address state police shortage
Nearly every State Police unit has been affected by a critical staffing shortage that has caused a crime lab backlog of 3,000 cases for DNA analysis.
In his budget address this week, Gov. Ned Lamont proposed spending $1.25 million to recruit and train 100 state troopers. He hopes the plan will get 80 to 90 troopers on the road in 2020.
“There’s 100 in there,” DESPP Commissioner designee James Rovella said Thursday. “It will barely keep up with attrition for the year. We had 80-and-change retire this year. So if I’m lucky, this will keep my head above water.”
It’s money that will stay in the budget if state
facility, but the resident said “the rooms are like cubby holes, they are not private.” The rooms at Rose Haven are singleoccupancy rooms.
“We are saddened by the decision to close; however the cost to maintain, staff and operate a multilicensed facility, coupled with the current reimbursement system has not made it sustainable,” Karen Donorfio, Vice President of Operations for Apple Health Care, said in a statement.
“We wish to thank all of the staff through the years who created a community of caring and dedicated themselves to delivering the highest quality of life and quality of care to our parents, siblings and loved ones in the Torrington and Litchfield areas,” Donorfio added.
State law requires the health facility operator to assist “residents and families with discharge and transfer plans.” The responsible parties for the transfer are the staff of Rose Haven and numerous state agencies including the Department of Public Health and the Department of Rehabilitation Services.
“Already many have left,” the resident said. “They began vacating from the day” the state approved the closure.
“We’re angry. We wanted help” from the state and “no one helped us,”he said.
Rose Haven will permanently close, state documents show, when the last resident has been relocated.