 SEEKING ANSWERS — Henry
Sershen (right) and Laszlo Harsing (left) probe the
causes of Alzheimer’s Disease at Nathan Kline
Institute. — 1991 PEF file photo by Sherry Halbrook
Best hopes for
treatments, prevention stopped cold
Budget cuts
leave research in tatters, scientists stunned
By SHERRY HALBROOK
Research represents the only hope of recovery for people
stricken with such devastating mental illnesses as
Alzheimer’s Disease and schizophrenia. Yet the
proposed state budget rips and tears at the research and clinical programs that embody that hope for millions
of people.
“It’s chilling to see how this research that
has been carefully nurtured for decades would be ravaged
at the Nathan Kline Institute in Orangeburg and the NYS
Psychiatric Institute in Manhattan — two celebrated
research facilities operated by the state Office of
Mental Health (OMH),” said PEF President Roger
Benson, who testified in February at a state legislative
hearing on the budget.
While the union has been waging an advertising and public
relations campaign opposing these and other proposed cuts
in state programs and services, PEF members have been
working with other concerned groups and individuals to
educate state legislators about the looming threat.
“The proposed cuts to research are appallingly
clumsy,” Benson said. “In many cases, some
parts of the research would be saved, while the essential
clinical trials or program support services would be
trashed. The result would maim the programs and cripple
the scientists’ ability to complete their
research.”
In fact, the proposed cuts in state funding for these
facilities would jeopardize research that has attracted
$100 million in federal and private grants.
The state recently invested $40 million in renovating the
Nathan Kline facility to ensure its state-of-the-art
capability and tripled grant funding there as a result.
Now, Nathan Kline would cease to exist. A few of its
grant programs would continue at the site but would be
merged into the NYS Psychiatric Institute operation.
“These two institutes enjoy well-earned
international reputations for excellence,” Benson
said. “Their work is distinctly different, but the
programs complement each other.
“This poorly conceived merger would severely
undermine the credibility of all of this state’s
important research efforts, even at other agencies,”
he said. “This is particularly true in light of the
plan to close the Institute for Basic Research which is
operated by the state Office of Mental Retardation and
Developmental Disabilities on Staten Island.
“When the National Institutes of Health and other
organizations that fund research see how New York is
ravaging these programs, they will be reluctant to
entrust future grant funding to any state research
here,” said Benson, who is a research scientist at
the state Health Department’s famed Wadsworth Center
in Albany.
At least 113 jobs at risk
The budget calls for the elimination of 113 state jobs at
the institutes.
However, the actual number of people who will lose their
jobs is greater than that. The research-grant funding is
awarded to the state scientists as principal
investigators. If the scientists leave, the grants will
be cancelled and the non-state employees funded by the
grants will lose their jobs too.
At Nathan Kline, 63 of the 113 staff have been notified
that their jobs will be eliminated. The other 50 would be
allowed to remain, with 42 continuing their research at
the Orangeburg site, but under the name of the NYS
Psychiatric Institute. Eight staff in the Health Services
Research Lab also would be retained there, but assigned
to the OMH central office payroll.
Henry Sershen — a research scientist at Nathan Kline
and a steward in PEF Division 235 — said he finds it
difficult to follow the logic of how the cuts are being
made.
“It appears they would save some of the research
into dementia, brain imaging, and schizophrenia,”
Sershen said. “But other related parts of these
programs, especially those involving clinical research
and trials for experimental drugs and treatments would be
eliminated.”
Sershen said he was surprised that the state also would
end the many years of study invested at Nathan Kline into
what triggers violent behavior in some psychiatric
patients.
“Violence in state psychiatric facilities is a very
serious problem, and we are conducting clinical research
here with some of the most difficult patients,”
Sershen said. “It took a long time to get approval
to bring them here. I have no idea what will happen to
them now.”
Another surprising cut, would eliminate the entire
maintenance and custodial staff at Nathan Kline.
“It’s unclear who would take care of this
state-of-the-art facility that the state just spent so
much money to renovate,” Sershen said.
Virginia Warner — a research scientist at the
Psychiatric Institute and a PEF Division 254 steward
— agreed with Sershen that the cuts are puzzling.
“It’s a peculiar list (of jobs to be
eliminated) here,” she said. “I’ve never
seen anything like it. They appear to be eliminating a
lot of people at our brand new building on Riverside
Drive. It looks like they took a big whack.”
The state would eliminate 42 jobs at the Psychiatric
Institute — one for every job transferred from
Nathan Kline.
“We may have to eliminate more, because they have
reduced the maximum number of state positions we are
allowed to have filled here from 401 to 384,” Warner
said.
“But since we still aren’t be sure how many
people will retire before March 31, we can’t be sure
how many more filled jobs have to be eliminated,”
she said.
Both Warner and Sershen are skeptical that the scientists
whose positions are cut will be able to transfer into
jobs at other state agencies.
“The state conducts medical research at relatively
few sites, and scientists are so specialized they cannot
transition easily into other programs,” Sershen
said.
Patients,
caregivers suffer
PEF member Nunzio Pomara is one of the scientists whose
job would be eliminated and his clinical research
scrapped. He began his research career in geriatric
psychiatry in 1980, coming to Nathan Kline in 1986.
“I’m in charge of a clinical program of
geriatric psychiatry,” Pomara said. “We are
conducting clinical trials of new treatments for patients
with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias, and
some with Down syndrome. I’m collaborating with PEF
member Arthur Dalton at the Institute for Basic Research
in this research, which is funded by a private
grant.”
Pomara said he has been agonizing over how and when to
tell the families of the patients receiving treatment in
his program about the state’s threat to pull the
plug on it.
“I’ve been afraid to confront the caregivers
with this news, because these poor families are already
so stressed. They aren’t up to traveling many miles
for treatment. And, of course, these experimental drugs
would not be available elsewhere.
“Until recently, no medications were approved for
treatment of Alzheimer’s in this country. Now three
drugs in the same family are available, but they only
slow its progression, at best. The medication we are
testing is entirely different. We have completed the
first phase of testing and have begun the second phase.
It would be such a shame to end this study now.” he
said.
Pomara is also conducting separate research under a
federal grant to discover if there is a way to reverse
the negative side effects that certain commonly
prescribed drugs have on the memory of elderly patients.
And he is investigating how longterm use of some drugs
may also cause certain involuntary muscle activity, such
as facial twitches.
“Many millions of people are affected by these
various disorders, and the cost of caring for them is
staggering. We must develop safe, effective treatments.
That’s why it’s hard to understand why the
state would stop this research,” Pomara said.
“It has been very shocking to me that no one talked
to us before they made these decisions about what to
cut.”
|
COMMUNICATOR HOMEPAGE
Inside This Issue:
Features
PEF fires back in budget
battles for state services
PEF fights to raise state
revenues
Budget cuts leave research
in tatters
Unions may unite in battle
over health benefits
DEC: Polluters’ lackies
can replace state monitors
Departments
President's Message: NYS
budget must be fair
You Said It: Member's
letters this month
Health & Safety:
Evaluating your safety risks
Member Mobilization:
Building Survivor Skills
Nurses' Station: Lobby Day
plans for May 5th
Retirees In Action: Fight
health insurance hike
PEF Membership Benefits
Program & Travel Corp
Members In Action
Union Matters
'Operation Enduring Freedom'
with state workers
DOH members ahead in
evacuation planning
Call for Delegates: Annual
Convention Rules
Member dons dress to raise
$$ for charity
Other Links
Professional Directory
Members' Classified
Member Communicator Feedback
Do You Prefer The Online
Edition?
How To Advertise Here
PEF Pride Store
The Communicator Staff
Questions on this site? Email the comwebmaster.
 Register here on the
PEF
Member Network.
 Click Here email notice when next issue is
online
Site Map What's New Search
|