Hospital 'concept' marks beginning
November 26, 2006
Slowly, plans for replacing the
Vermont State Hospital are coming together.
The panic that followed two
patients' suicides and the loss of federal funding at the old
Waterbury hospital has subsided. So has the outrage that was
expressed by Vermont lawmakers who toured the dingy facility after
the suicides in 2003.
It was that panic and outrage that
finally drove state officials to address the wrongs at the hospital
-- a cast-off pile of bricks on the back streets of Waterbury that
the state had under-funded for years. It also led to problems along
the way, including hurried and misguided plans to insert satellite
services in towns that didn't want them.
From those mistakes, a calmer, more
inclusive approach was born. The resolution for the antiquated
Waterbury hospital that serves Vermont's most seriously mentally ill
will likely stretch into years, but it reflects a more clear-eyed
view of the magnitude of the project and the reality of host
communities' concerns.
Dec. 13, the state's mental health
officials will present their plan for a replacement for the Vermont
State Hospital to state regulators. The proposal is for 40 new
inpatient beds to be located at Burlington's Fletcher Allen Health
Care, with Rutland Regional Medical Center adding six to its
psychiatric unit, and Retreat Healthcare in Brattleboro adding four.
The approval process has two steps
and marks the first time in Vermont that a health care project has
required conceptual approval before costly investments that might
lack public support are made, the Free Press reported.
If the conceptual plan is approved,
the details of design, cost and other issues will be addressed in a
second certificate-of-need application. At the end of this lengthy
process, the suggested opening date is 2012 for a primary inpatient
program. Along the way, there are a number of checks and balances,
particularly in the way of public involvement. Residents and Vermont
State Hospital employees, who have been attending the public
meetings, have raised legitimate questions about how the project
might affect their lives -- everything from safety concerns to the
proposed Burlington location's being too far from many of the
workers' homes.
In the meantime, patients continue
to dwell in the prison-like Waterbury hospital. Moving them to a
more healing environment cannot come soon enough. But in tackling
the future of the state hospital, mental health officials rightly
decided the hospital could not be considered in isolation. It had to
be part of a much-needed revamping of the whole mental health care
system across the state.
It's a huge undertaking. It needs
to be done well. Thoughtfulness, rather than panic, should guide it.
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