The sole psychiatric treatment facility serving the Chestertown area got the hammer on Wednesday when the governor, the comptroller and the treasurer went whack-a-mole with the state budget.
Upper Shore Mental Health Center will be shut down next March 1.
Where the severely ill patients there will go, nobody knows. Beds at the nearest state facility, the Eastern Shore Mental Health Center in Cambridge, are just as full as those here.
Upper Shore was not singled out in the budget bashing by the Board of Public Works. Facing huge deficits, Governor Martin O’Malley, Treasurer Nancy Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot knocked $20 million out of local health spending in every county.
Axing Upper Shore shutters the 10th largest employer in Kent County. That’s 119 jobs – 94 state employees and 25 contractural workers – to vanish in March.
No one at Upper Shore would speak for the record about the situation. Considering their situation, who could blame them?
But one employee was overheard: “The economy of Kent County’s going to feel it when we go. We buy gas here, bank here, shop here, eat here. We contribute to the community.”
No one in Annapolis, nobody in the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has yet addressed the question of what they’ll do about the people in the beds here now.
These people have no insurance. Upper Shore has always been considered a safety net for people who could not afford to go anywhere else.
Some under treatment at Upper Shore have been hospitalized at one facility or another for 20-plus years. Some are people who have never been stabilized, never been able to go back into their community.
If the Cambridge center is full and can’t take them, the only other nearby option is Union Hospital in Elkton. But that’s a private facility. They’ll take an indigent patient in extremis and give treatment for a few days, but after that?
They’ve always sent them down the road to the one place that would always take the destitute and disoriented, to Upper Shore Mental Health Center, 300 Scheeler Road, Chestertown.
The juvenile services and alcohol treatment facilities at the Scheeler campus are not affected by the O’Malley administration cuts. Yet.
No doubt the Board of Public Works would like to hear views. Got to www.bpw.state.md.us/ and click the image of a member. Links lead to phone numbers of key staff and to a site for sending your message.
MAG says
Please revive the inclusion of the link to the Board of Public Works (which in turn had links to sites for contacting each member) that was in the earlier version of this article. I used the link last night to send messages to all three about the closure, but I probably wouldn’t have done so had not the link been in the piece. Others might like to do the same.
Elizabeth Hoskins Jackson says
Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center, in Chestertown Maryland
has fell victim to the latest rounds of State Budget cuts. We will close ours doors
by March 1, 2010, the 28th anniversary of our opening.The Public works board
signed off on the closure 8.26.09.
Our 40 bed inpatient state psychiatric hospital averages 200 admissions per year.
The uninsured residents of Caroline, Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot Counties requiring inpatient pyschiatric care will have to go elsewhere. The closest state pyschiatric facility is fifty miles away. Their rationale for closing USCMHC: we are a small facility and our patients can be easily served elsewhere.
The Kent County Behavorial Health outpatient clinic, AF Whitsitt inpatient alcohol & drug treament program, and Carter DeWeese Junvenile Detention Center are also tenants on the property. They will have 1 year to remain on our property after the March 1, 2010 closure to explore other options.
Maryland Department of Mental Health & Hygiene Administration sent a representative to tell the 70 employees in attendance of the closure on Tuesday 8.25.09. Giving us less than 24 hours notice prior to The Public Works Board signing off on our closure.We have been targeted to close several times. Previously we were given enough notice to rally community and political support to remain open. We succeeded staying open on as little as one month’s notice.
This round of state budget cuts calls for a total of 205 state employees to be terminated.
92 of those state positions are at USCMHC. Additionally 26 contractual employees at USCMHC will lose their jobs.
$29 million dollars had to be cut from th DHMH budget. USCMHC’s operating budget is $9 Million. Our “little” facility is absorbing almost 31% of the terminations and 32% of the monetary cuts.
No consideration was given to the impact of this closure on the community we serve or the people we employee.Our employees were told there will be no severance package, no early retirement, no extended health insurance and we will not be able to bump other state employees out of jobs.
I am a Registered Nurse that went to work at Eastern Shore Hospital Center in 1980 when Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center was under construction.
I was at USCMHC on March 1, 1982 to care for the first patients to walk through the door.
I will be there to see the last of the patients walk out.
We were told once the Public Works Board sign off this is a done deal. We need the citizens
And politicians to speak out and let our Governor know how they feel.
Elizabeth says
Correction to my earlier post Upper Shore is absorbing 45% of the terminations.
Below is the link to the public works board and the link to email all the legislators.
https://www.bpw.state.md.us/
https://mlis.state.md.us/mgaweb/mail32.aspx
Robin Wood says
Over the past 27 years, Upper Shore Mental Health has helped many hundreds of men and women – and their families – attain a new lease on life. Its small staff has long been known for its compassion, innovation and excellence. They created the only specialty unit in the state hospital system for co-occurring mental illness and addiction. This unit has helped people from all over Maryland learn to deal with this difficult problem. Other pioneering examples include mental illness management education for patients and the early use of Clozapine, a medication which helped some people who had been in the hospital for years regain their lives in the community.
As the mother of a young patient once put it, Upper Shore is “the best-kept secret in the state.” In Maryland, it has been state hospitals – not private units – which have helped sufferers of the severe and persistent mental illness. This is because the doctors, nurses and therapists come to know the patients, and the patients can stay until they are ready for discharge and have arrangements for housing and aftercare. Can Marylanders really afford to lose such a reservoir of knowledge and experience? What is going to happen to the patients who need extended hospital care? Shouldn’t a way be found to keep Upper Shore alive through the tough times?
MAG says
I urge everyone concerned about this closure decision to e-mail the three Board of Public Works members. Upper-level staff in at least two of the offices (Treasurer’s Deputy for External Affairs and Comptroller’s Chief of Staff) are paying attention, judging from e-mails I received. The Gov’s office just sends an automatic e-mail saying the message has been received. Urge that the closure decision be revisited, especially since the BPW was presented with some faulty information on which to base their decision, and also because there seems to be poor understanding of the purposes/proper role of hospitals like Upper Shore.
William W. Pickrum says
This will be devastating to our region. Again, the politicians in Annapolis are treating the Eastern Shore badly.
I realize that comments may be made that this may be a NIMBY (Not in my back yard) reaction. But I have always considered what is best for the region, as well as, the state. The clientele at this facility are some of the most vulnerable and least likely to “vote.” When Upper Shore Mental Health Center was scheduled to close during a previous budget “crisis”, it was demonstrated how critical the facility was to the region in the services it provides. The same reasoning applies.
Apparently, the need of the region and the patients is NOT an important factor in this decision. There are not the available private facilities on the Eastern Shore as there are in other parts of Maryland. It is immoral and unconscionable to throw these patients and staff out on the street.
I assume the Board of Public Works feels that the unemployed staff can seek public assistance, too. The unemployment rate in Kent County has significantly increased over the past 2 years. This is above the state average. Several other regions in the state also suffer. This does not minimize the local hardship that will occur.
What is done by humans, can be undone by humans, in this case. It is critical that the citizens and residents of the region contact the members of the Board of Public Works, as well as, the members of the 36th Legislative District. I’m confident that Sen. Pipkin and Delegates Walkup, Sossi and Smigiel are equally adamant about keeping this facility open. Contact them:
Del. Walkup – [email protected], phone: 800-492-7122 or 410-841-3449
Del. Sossi – [email protected], phone: 800-492-7122 or 410-841-3543
Del. Smigiel – [email protected], phone: 800-492-7122 or 410-841-3555
Sen. Pipkin – [email protected], phone: 800-492-7122 or 410-841-3639
Patricia Deitz says
This is the letter I just sent to the Board of Public Works members. It takes only a few moments. It is really our responsibility as citizens to participate in public decisionmaking.
I truly hope you will reconsider the decision to close Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center. This hospital provides quality psychiatric services to the most needy and disturbed of our fellow citizens. It provides significant jobs in a small fragile economy. Patients are served from a rural five county area in which there is no public transportation for their families to travel to Cambridge or Baltimore to support them in other hospitals. Just because this is not a highly visible urban center, do not think it is a state service that can be dissolved with no consequences. Please reconsider this decision which will set in motion far more negative public policy consequences than the few million of dollars it will save for the deficit.
Elizabeth says
THE FACES OF UPPER SHORE – THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN CARING FOR THE MENTALLY ILL SINCE 1982- 96% of us live on the Shore. 48% of those live in KENT COUNTY. We are the 10th largest employer in Kent County. 48% of us have more than 10 years State Employment. 20 % of us have 20-29 years of state employment. 100% of us have been told we will lose our jobs and get no severance pay, no insurance benefits (unless we go through COBRA) none of our retirement pay(unless we are AGE 55 then we are eligible at a 42% reduction) We have been told state personnel sessions won’t be held for at least 2 weeks, at Upper Shore, to assist us with placement in other state positions and explore all of our options.
Is this anyway to treat a dedicated long term work force? Even Pier 1 imports offered someone I know who was terminated a weeks’ pay for each year of service, at the time I thought that really sucked….little did I know.
I have literally held crying work peers in my arms this week. I had an employee tell me they have nothing to live for.. they will lose everything they have worked for all these years and they are sure that the no one involved in the decision to close us will lose 1 nights sleep if they kill themselves.
We are being our own emotional support and still caring for patients. Every day I have seen shell shocked and crying employees still deliver the services our patients need. I have heard personal stories that nobody would share during normal times. Many employees already work 2 jobs to make ends meet. Several have a spouse who is working reduced hours or have lost their jobs. Some have already lost, or on the verge of losing, their homes. Many of them, or their family members, have chronic medical conditions that will suffer dramatically from the lose of insurance benefits. Several of us will be in need of the services we now provide, but won’t be able to find them.
We are fighting furiously to reverse the closure of UPPER SHORE for our patients and ourselves.
THE GOVEROR & PUBLIC WORKS BOARD members ( https://www.bpw.state.md.us/) need to be flooded with emails & phone calls from the community we serve telling them to stop the closure of UPPER SHORE.
Mary Wood says
“America Needs Good Health Care Now” , is the headline of an ad in this Sunday’s paper.
On the opposite page is an editorial entitled “Wrong Headed Plan” about the decision by Maryland’s Board of Public works to shut down the Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center located in Kent County and serving patients from Cecil, Queen Anne’s, Dorchester, Caroline and Talbot Counties.
The Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center has been delivering good health care since 1982 and serves around 200 patients a year. These are sufferers from mental illnesses who are uninsured and not admitted to private hospitals, or who have been discharged from private hospitals after their health insurance has been used up and they are still not well.
The Upper Shore Health Community Mental Center houses the only unit in any state hospital devoted exclusively to the patient whose mental illness is complicated by addiction, and had been accepting patients from all over Maryland to this unique and successful form of treatment.
Brian Hepburn, Director of the State Mental Health Administration, is quoted as saying, “All patients in the co-occurring … unit should be able to return to their home communities [and] most patients in the general psychiatric unit should be able to return to their families.” If these patients were able to live in their communities or with their families would they have needed to be hospitalized?
The Board of Public works is eliminating vital health services to a population which is most vulnerable, unable to wield political power. With a stroke of the pen they are crossing off years of work that has built up a team, a dedicated staff of nurses, therapists, social workers and physicians. The loss of their 90 jobs will have a devastating effect on these individuals as well as the communities in which they live.
The news media has been filled with accounts of Senator Kennedy’s fight for Health Care Reform, and our Congress will soon reconvene to discuss the plans to bring health care benefits to all America. How can Maryland refuse to do its part in this fight by closing down Upper Shore Community Health Center, a hospital that is doing fine work in mental health?
Tonya Rider says
On August 25, 2009 all Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center employees were notified the facility would be closing by March 1, 2010, the 28th anniversary of its opening. It has also been brought to our attention the Public Works Board signed off on the closure on August 26, 2009.
Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center is a 40 bed inpatient state psychiatric hospital that averages approximately 200 admissions per year.
The Maryland Department of Mental Health & Hygiene Administration’s representative notified USCMHC of the closure less than 24 hours before the Public Works Board meeting. Stating $29 million dollars had to be cut from the DHMH budget. Also stating $9 million of those dollars comes from the closure of USCMHC. In actuality the closing will only save the state $2.7 million; USCMHC receives the additional $6.3 million from federal funding.
This morning, August 27, 2009, we were made aware that during yesterdays Public Works Board meeting when asked what would happen to the patients of Upper Shore Secretary Foster’s reply was that most of Upper Shore’s patients were from Baltimore. In fact this is incorrect information. USCMHC only serves the counties of the Eastern Shore. The rare and special occasion Baltimore residents are admitted to USCMHC is when there are no available beds in the Baltimore area. Currently USCMHC is housing the following patients from the following counties: Kent County, Queen Anne County, Talbot County, Cecil County, Caroline County, Wicomico County, and Dorchester County.
There apparently was also discussion stating USCMHC did not house forensic patients. Again another stand of misinformation, currently USCMHC has 12 forensic patients residing in its facility. Several newspaper articles have interpreted “two units” would be closing; USCMHC is two units and of the 200 state employee lay-offs 90 of those are employees of USCMHC.
Kent County is the smallest county in the state of Maryland and the closing of USCMHC will impact the community in ways I believe are not being taken into consideration. As the economy falters crime rates, depression and suicide rates will increase.
All employees of USCMHC are aware of the need for budget cuts and are willing to make personal sacrifices in order to save their jobs and the hospital. If the closure of USCMHC continues as planned it will without doubt be a truly distressing future for the patients, employees and community members.
Heather Ransom says
The Upper Shore Community Mental Heatth Center in Kent County (USCMHC) services the needs of 200 patients a year whose mental illness are complicated by addictions. Citizens from Kent County and 5 neighboring counties are cared for in this facility. The hospital provides quality psychiatric services delivered by teams of dedicated nurses, therapists, social workers and physicans.
USCMHC is fulling its responsibility to treat the upper shore’s most needy and distrubed citizens. It is providing excellent mental healh care required and certified by state and federal regulations. It has recruited professional personnel and they and their families have in turn enriched and grown the community.
I respectfully submit the legislature has a responsibility to find other ways to address the several million dollar budget shortfall assumed to be gained by the proposed closure of the USCMHC.