Hutchings PC gains more beds
By DEBORAH A. MILES
The Hutchings Psychiatric Center in Syracuse will add six more temporary beds for children and adolescents. This is significant, because a year ago Hutchings was on the state’s list to be closed.
“This is a victory for us,” said PEF Vice President Pat Baker and statewide labor-management committee chair for mental health. “PEF has fought to keep Hutchings open. The fact the state Office of Mental Health (OMH) is adding beds is reassuring. It’s a step in the right direction in relation to job security and providing services to the community.”
PEF leaders and Division 301 members with help from local state legislators persuaded OMH Commissioner Sharon Carpinella to change her mind and add six beds. Eight temporary beds for children and adolescents were added last year.
But it wasn’t easy.
The battle began in 2004 when OMH closed Four Winds, a private psychiatric hospital in Syracuse, for various violations. It had 64 beds for children and adolescents, and approximately 75 beds for adults. OMH placed the consumers from Four Winds in facilities as far away as Buffalo, Newark, Ogdensburg, Rochester and a Four Winds hospital in Saratoga Springs.
Full treatment plan
“We argued and spoke with lawmakers about increasing the bed capacity at Hutchings,” said Robert Hogle, PEF Division 301 treasurer and a residential program manager.
“Hutchings has the expertise and capacity to accommodate these consumers. Moving them means it takes hours for family members and individuals such as teachers, social workers and various care providers to visit them. This is detrimental to a child’s recovery when these people are unable to be part of the full treatment plan.
“These consumers need acute inpatient treatment. If their illness reaches a crisis level, they may be in danger of hurting themselves or others,” he said.
“Commissioner Carpinella was unresponsive in any realistic way to this situation,” he said. “In fact, she wrote a letter to the Syracuse Post-Standard denying there was any problem.”
Getting results
PEF leaders and members of the “Save Hutchings” Steering committee alerted Onondaga County Commissioner David Brownell, state Senator John DeFrancisco and others to the situation. They proposed adding 10 beds at the new Upstate Medical Center, but Carpinella responded by saying beds were being developed in Binghamton and some services were available in Ogdensburg.
According to Hogle, Carpinello denied the request to increase the capacity at Hutchings.
PEF Vice President Ken Brynien and others sent a response letter to the Syracuse Post-Standard that prompted results.
After Brynien’s letter appeared in print, OMH said Carpinello reversed her decision and added the beds at Hutchings.
“That decision is the most obvious and practical answer in this situation,” Brynien said. “It’s important to take care of the area’s citizens where they live.”
Brynien and Baker said Hutchings has empty wards that could easily accommodate even more of the transferred patients.
“Hutchings is needed in that community, and we will continue to monitor and act upon any plans released by OMH,” Baker said.
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