Advocates in Massachusetts say mental health center shouldn't be closed

From the Wicked Local:

QUINCY, Mass. - A proposal to close the Quincy Mental Health Center due to state budget problems would lead to patient suffering, family emergencies and crime, advocates for people with mental illness say.

The state Department of Mental Health operates the center, a 16-bed hospital for people with acute mental health problems. It is the only such state facility in the region.

“Oh, that would be devastating,” said Belinda Ellison, site manager for the Atlantic Clubhouse, a day program for people with mental health problems that also operates in Quincy. Ellison said she was stunned to learn of the proposal, reported in Monday’s Patriot Ledger.

“So many mentally challenged people would be without services,” Ellison said.

The clubhouse, run by the nonprofit Center for Health and Development, helps 60 to 80 people a day. Most are recovering from mental illness and have been live-in patients at state-run or private hospitals.

One of the clubhouse members, Jacco Stroud (pictured), 62, said he sees a therapist at the mental health center and does not have a car to travel farther than Quincy.

The state has not said where patients would go if the Quincy inpatient unit were to close. There is also a proposal to close Westboro State Hospital.

“That would make it tough on the families to visit, and that is important to a person recovering from an illness,” said Mike Kelly, 66, another clubhouse member. “It is important that they have support and that their family be able to get there reasonably well. I think it’s a bad mistake.” He also suggested it would cost the state more than it would save it.

Ellison said the clubhouse has daytime social programs for people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and other mental illness and substance abuse problems. The clubhouse, at 338 Washington St., helps keep people out of the hospital, she said.

A public meeting on the proposed budget cuts and on combining mental health services will be held in two sessions, at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., July 22 at Quincy Mental Health Center, 460 Quincy Ave.

The 16-bed inpatient unit costs $5.5 million a year and should be discontinued to help the state Department of Mental Health operate within its budget for the state fiscal year that started July 1, according to a new state report.

The Quincy unit is the state’s most expensive inpatient facility and the only state program at the Quincy Mental Health Center, which offers a variety of services through various agencies.

The health center’s 16 beds are among the only ones on the South Shore, said Harry Shulman, president and CEO of South Shore Mental Health, a private agency operating out of the same building.