Advocacy
For over 55 years, MHAEC has been at the forefront of the advocacy movement. At the local, state and national levels, staff and volunteers have led a tireless crusade for legislative policies that ensure fair, decent and humane living and working conditions for individuals suffering from severe and persistent mental illnesses. We remain always committed to the principle that our role as a state-funded service provider will never compromise or conflict with staunchly advocating for policies and practices that are in the very best interests of the consumer.
Please see below for other advocacy groups and resources and check back often for updates and new information.
CODEY APPLAUDS GOVERNOR'S DECISION ON HAGEDORN PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL
Compromise Would Ensure Continuation of Care at Hunterdon County Psychiatric Facility
TRENTON – Senator Richard J. Codey, D-Essex, today applauded the decision by Governor Christie to continue services at Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital in Hunterdon County. The facility, which serves mostly adult patients suffering from dementia, was slated to be shut down in the Governor's original proposed budget:
"I would like to thank Governor Christie, State Senator Mike Doherty, and all of the advocates who fought so hard to make sure that services for the mentally ill would continue at Hagedorn. Even though we're facing one of the toughest budgets on record, with the restoration of the Hagedorn operating funds, we're making a statement that we won't balance our budget without consideration of our most vulnerable residents.
"The compromise to keep Hagedorn open represents a win for the patients, and is a testament to the excellent level of services provided at the hospital."
New Jersey must not turn its back on patients at Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital
By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist –Bob Davison and Mary Zdanowicz
Imagine that you have an elderly family member who suffers from a serious and debilitating mental illness, and that they are currently — and fortunately — receiving the care and treatment that they need in a well-run state psychiatric hospital.
Now imagine how you would react if the state suddenly announced that, as part of its attempts to balance its budget, that same well-run institution would be abruptly shut down and there was no viable plan in place for relocating patients like your loved one.
That is what happened when Gov. Chris Christie announced that Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital, a 310-bed facility that specializes in caring for the aged, would be closed by June 2011. Its patients' families must now consider the harmful repercussions of this decision.
Geriatric-psychiatric care is a very specialized discipline and the services currently being provided at Hagedorn are exemplary. In fact, just weeks ago (as reported in this newspaper) the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare described Hagedorn as "running at an optimal level," calling it possibly "one of the best-run geriatric facilities."
Why, then, would the governor and the state proceed with the ill-advised strategy of closing this facility?
If history is our guide, closing Hagedorn will inevitably lead to overcrowding, overtaxing of already limited staff resources, and a breakdown in order at the remaining state psychiatric hospitals, Ancora, Trenton State and Greystone. This is exactly what happened in the 1990s when the state closed Marlboro Hospital. In fact, the strain became so great at Ancora during that time period that the U.S. Department of Justice recently conducted an investigation into the subsequent deterioration of treatment conditions there.
In a report issued in August, the Justice Department found that patients at Ancora lived in unsafe conditions and "did not receive appropriate treatment and rehabilitation." It further noted that Ancora's patients were subjected to "serious, frequent and recurrent harm" and that their civil rights had been systematically violated.
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.
In defense of its plan, state officials promise that appropriate services will be provided at the community level for discharged Hagedorn patients. They say this despite the fact that we have recently witnessed the closings of numerous community hospital-based psychiatric units, including Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield, St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic and Chilton Hospital in Pompton Plains. The state also cut community psychiatric services last year and is proposing additional, significant cuts this year. Furthermore, support for Medicaid patients in nursing homes is being frozen.
In this financial crisis, can we really believe the state will make the appropriate investment in community services to care for the former Hagedorn patients? Failure by the state to keep this promise would result in an increase in the number of patients at the remaining hospitals, additional homelessness within communities and the victimization of individuals with mental illness.
Our fear is that an appreciation for balance and capacity at state institutions is being replaced by an inappropriate focus on the bottom line, and we remind the state that its primary duty is to protect the vulnerable.
Christie should ask himself a question: Would he allow an elderly relative with mental illness to be uprooted from a stable treatment environment and abruptly transferred to a facility such as Ancora, or alternately left to fend for himself or herself within an already over-extended community mental health system?
Through painful experience we know that proper downsizing of an inpatient system requires a well thought out, multi-year effort where community supports, access to treatment, and housing and/or nursing home care is available. Trying to close a psychiatric hospital in a year or less is not only irresponsible — it is dangerous.
Many of the patients at Hagedorn cannot speak for themselves. Having gone through this before, we can speak out, and we hope the governor will look at the facts and change direction. The patients of Hagedorn deserve his compassion, his consideration and his support.
Robert N. Davison is executive director of the Mental Health Association of Essex County. Mary Zdanowicz is legal guardian for her sister, a patient at Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital.
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