The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Future of state hospital debated
NORRISTOWN » The future of Norristown State Hospital got a little bit closer to becoming a little bit clearer in 2017.
The sprawling grounds of the psychiatric hospital that first opened its doors in 1879 have suffered from decades of neglect, save for a few buildings that remain in use.
And in November, the construction of a new building on the portion of the grounds located in Norristown was temporarily halted after objections
from local leaders reached the governor’s office.
Following a series of public meetings in which stakeholders on all sides — mental health consumers, community members and state hospital workers — voiced their concerns, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services and other state agencies came up with a compromise that allowed for the new building’s completion but restricted further expansion of psychiatric facilities and set a path toward an eventual exit strategy.
The hospital first made headlines in January, after DHS announced the impending closure of its civil unit, which housed more than 120 general psychiatry consumers.
According to DHS, the closure was part of the Wolf administration’s “commitment to serve more people in the community, reduce reliance on institutional care, and improve access to home and communitybased services for Pennsylvanians.”
Another reason for the closing was undoubtedly the state’s budget crunch.
And in public hearings that followed the announcement, many former consumers, as well as their families and caregivers, wondered what would become of some of the patients being served after the unit’s closure.
One of the pressures facing NHS was the lack of available beds in the forensic unit, which provides mental health competency treatment for around 130 people making their way through the criminal justice system.
In January 2016 DHS settled a lawsuit brought by the ACLU in October 2015 that required 50 additional forensic beds be made available at the hospital in response to prolonged wait times for people in need of the unit’s services who were languishing in correctional facilities.
The construction of the building that would house those 50 beds became the crux of the issue that came to a head in November.
When municipal council members and administrators became aware of the construction, they reached out to Rep. Matt Bradford, D-70, and state Sen. Daylin Leach, D-17, and collectively argued their case to the governor.
The main complaint of municipal stakeholders was that the community was not consulted before the new building went under construction.
In addition, local officials expressed concerns about public safety, since Norristown police and firefighters would be responsible for responding to any incidents that could occur there.
But perhaps the most overarching issue is the space itself.
Norristown State Hospital sits on more than 220 acres of prime real estate in Norristown and West Norriton. And much of that area is underutilized — dotted with large, aging, vacant buildings.
Several municipal councils and administrations over the past two decades have urged the state to do something, or allow them to do something, to clean up the eyesores and transform the open space into something suitable for mixed use that would contribute to the tax base.
State hospital workers, including members of the Pennsylvania State Correctional Officers Association, and mental health providers argue that the facility remains safe and is a needed asset to the community.
They point to the ACLU settlement as proof that the state has abdicated its responsibility for those in need of forensic unit services for far too long, and they don’t believe the construction of the building should have been stopped.
The compromise which allowed construction at the forensic unit at Building 10 to resume, includes vacating a pair of buildings on the Norristown portion of the site in 2022; a comprehensive plan — with community input— to be completed