KEEP HOPE ALIVE — PEF members at Bronx Psychiatric Center march to a public forum where they spoke out about the need to fund and maintain quality services for mentally ill residents of the Bronx and other communities served at the center. Region 10 Coord. Jennifer Faucher and Exec. Board Member Dr. Robert Lowinger lead the march. VP Pat Baker is shown at the microphone. — Photos by Richard Dillard

PEF ‘Speaks Out’ to keep Bronx psych centers open

By DENYCE DUNCAN LACY
PEF members took to the streets and the microphones in October to make sure the state preserves and strengthens the Bronx Psychiatric Centers, the borough’s only state-run, in patient facilities for people with mental illness.

Dozens of PEF members — doctors, nurses, therapists and other health care professionals and technicians — participated in a march from Bronx Psychiatric Center and Bronx Children’s’ Psychiatric Center to Jacobi Medical Center. There, they testified at a fact-finding “Speak Out” held by New York State Assemblyman Peter Rivera and New York City Councilwoman Margarita Lopez. Rivera and Lopez have also scheduled hearings on this issue for November.

Capital for capital improvements
“The state Office of Mental Health has no plan to keep Bronx Psychiatric Center and Bronx Children’s Psychiatric Center open,” said PEF Vice President Pat Baker. “It is essential that the state release funding for capital improvements so these psychiatric centers obtain the accreditation needed to remain open. We suspect the state is looking to use the real estate on this valuable property for other ventures — maybe even as a ‘one-shot’ deal to help close the budget deficit.” Although Bronx Psychiatric Center and Bronx Children’s Psychiatric Center are no longer on the state’s closure list, if the facilities are not rebuilt they will not meet the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations official approval and will not be allowed to stay open.

“There is no plan to take care of these patients and nobody really cares,” added PEF Region 10 Coordinator Jennifer Faucher. “The state has not taken its responsibility seriously. The Office of Mental Health must not abandon these patients. They need quality mental health care in their community.”

Vital community service
Dr. Robert Lowinger, a PEF Executive Board member and psychiatrist at Bronx Psychiatric Center, testified that Bronx Psychiatric Center has the only Spanish-speaking unit operated by the state, and is serving a vital need in the Latino community.

“If Bronx Psychiatric Center and Bronx Children’s Psychiatric close, patients will be sent to Long Island and upstate, creating hardship for their families who will have to travel miles away to visit them,” Lowinger told lawmakers. “There will also be no way to guarantee that the most qualified workers who have developed relationships with the patients will be able to continue delivering services to the mentally ill.

“The patients in the Bronx deserve the same level of care as everyone else in the community.”

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Features
Testifying on wasteful state spending
Contractor at fault in bridge collapse
Stop privatization dead in its tracks’
SEIU leads ‘Show Bush the Door in '04’
- PEF to show Bush the exit door
- How to help show Bush the door

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President's Message: Bush must go
You Said It: Member's letters this month
Member Mobilization: Training gears up
Nurses' Station: protest-of-assignment
Legislative Update: Law buys time
Contact Update: Time clocks off limits
Nov. 19 Capitol Rally
Health Benefits: Roswell to the rescue
- HMO can help you stop smoking?
- Decide about your health benefits now
Retirees: Get HIP to health insurance
Health & Safety: Workplace books to go
PEF Membership Benefits & Travel Corp

Union Matters
PEF’s ’03 COPE All Stars shine
Keep hope alive at Bronx PC
PEF preps for battle to save OCFS jobs
PEF backs Gunther for state Assembly
Time clocks off the wall
OFCS member Dudley does write
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