THANKS! — PEF Regional Coordinators Mary Twitchell and Neila Cardus thank Sen. Tom Libous for his leadership in keeping state prisons and psychiatric center open.
— Photo by Sherry Halbrook

Threat of future closure looms
Lawmakers, advocates rescue Middletown from closing

By DEBORAH A. MILES
Taking a brief sigh of relief after lawmakers stepped in and promised to stop the closure of Middleton Psychiatric Center (MPC) for another year, PEF members there are still gearing up for a future battle.

Last year, when the facility was on the hit list, the union engaged in an all-out plan involving area lawmakers and community leaders and held rallies to gain public support to keep the center open. This year, when the announcement was made in January for its proposed closure, Assembly Member Aileen Gunther and state Sen. John Bonacic initiated the rescue.

“We are very grateful to Sen. Bonacic and Assembly Member Gunther for their support,” said Neila Cardus, PEF Region 9 coordinator. “They have recognized the important role MPC plays in the community and the special population that it serves.

“It only took 33 days to save Middletown,” she said. “The coalition we formed last year did a magnificent job for us.”

However, until the Executive Budget is passed, members are still being encouraged to contact their legislators to keep the doors open at Middletown for at least another year.

Still vital and a target
MPC remains a target for closure in the Executive Budget, partly because the more than 100-year-old facility is in need of renovations. Many of the units have shut down due to a lack of staffing.

Even with a drop in patients, PEF leaders said MPC remains a vital part of the community because it is the only in-patient facility that serves residents of Orange and Sullivan Counties, and prison inmates from those counties when they become mentally unstable.

“We have helped thousands of people with psychiatric problems re-enter the community,” said PEF member Lucille Sorrentino, a nurse at MPC. “There are a certain number of patients who can never be in the community and some of them have lived here for 20 or 30 years. I can’t even image what would happen to them, if they didn’t have us.”

MPC also serves patients from four area hospitals who, after 30 days in a hospital psychiatric program, need further treatment.

Short-staffing, another problem
The lack of staffing remains a problem at MPC.

“We can’t fill the slots the hospital lost last year,” Sorrentino said. “We just cannot retain and recruit nurses. A nurse right out of school can start here and make as much money as a nurse who has worked here for 20 years. Without the geographic differential, it is really hard for us. If we can’t retain the nurses, we will be in bad shape.”

Sorrentino said without additional staff, more units may close. But the goal of the MPC staff is to expand, work more closely in a cooperative service with area hospitals and develop transitional units for patients who are not yet ready to enter the community and be independent.

Communicator Homepage April 04

Inside This Issue
Features
Contract rally sizzles
Rally activists speak their minds
PEF weighing its options
Keep Fulton Corrections open
Camp McGregor’s fate depends...
Lawmakers save Middletown Psych
PEF helps elect Fields to office
Changing the world, one cow at a time

Departments
President's Message
Member's Mailbag
Nurses' Station
Retirees In Action
Members' Highlights
Back Cover Ad
PEF Membership Benefits &Travel

Union Matters
Union halts layoffs at OCF
Judge backs nurses right to back pay
Member keeps lifesaving blood flowing
Deadline nears for OT meal allowance
PEF sending first heroes into national...
Labor community helps state workers
Grant walks the walk
Reg. 1 member running to retire
Candidates sought for E. Board
Join PEF Hispanic Committee at Somos
2004 Convention Delegate Info

Save these dates:
April 21-25
Somos El Futuro!
The annual weekend conference in Albany of the Caucus of NYS Hispanic and Puerto Rican Legislators
For more information, to volunteer, or make reservations for the reception, call Helen Brooks at the PEF Legislative Office, 1-800-724-4997.

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