Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital. (Ryan Smith, RN-T.com)
The state has announced plans to close the mental hospital on June 30, affecting 184 patients and 764 employees.
McNiece said she hopes the session will help employees discover resources available to them concerning job searches and retraining.
Tom Wilson, spokesman for the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, said the closure is part of a 5-year plan to move developmentally disabled and mentally ill patients to private settings and community-based services. The agreement lays aside a DOJ lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The hospital has served mentally ill and developmentally disabled patients in the 16-county region for the past 27 years.
Ground was broken in April 1971 for the Redmond Road complex that replaced the 1940s-era military buildings of Battey State Hospital.
The state owns six other mental health hospitals: Georgia Regional Hospital at Atlanta; Georgia Regional Hospital at Savannah; Central State Hospital, Milledgeville; Southwestern State Hospital, Thomasville; West Central Georgia Regional Hospital, Columbus; and East Central Regional Hospital, Augusta.
...and on another note what is the 2011 budget for GCAL the "crisis call center" and consumer "no-help" call center? This farce of a government funded private company continues to block access to care and provide misinformation to consumers just so it can provide Frank Shelp with stats on how much money they save the state of GA! Last I heard their 2010 budget was close to 4 million...yes... four million. For what? do they actually provide treament for GA's mentally ill. No, of course not...they just give you another number to call or tell you who has an available bed for a mental health patient...most of the time the info is wrong!!!
Thank you Sonny for putting this great system into place...refusing to recognize when changes were needed and getting GA into such a situation that the DOJ had to come in and "fix" things...hold on to your hat everyone, because we have not hit rock bottom yet!
SO now what? Try it with the lot of them?
McRay
It would be most surprising if any state official attended the meeting. This entire fiasco lies firmly with them. The conditions that required a "negotiated settlement" with the DOJ resulted from total neglect and irresponsibility from our Republican Leadership, including our representative. I never thought I would be a registered Independent. I now see the error of my choice. The party of choice is now making me choose a different political party after 30 years of straight ticket voting.
But city officials are doing more than the state has offered to do. I doubt your newly elected representative who was so adamant in closing the hospital will make an effort to be there. You wanted God fearing conservatives in office, now you see how much they care about you the average citizen let alone the most fragile citizens. Wonder how the land is worth on Division Street, and who paid for ms. dempsey's election.
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