|
Moundville fights home for 'crazy
people’
Council opposes move to relocate mental health facility to town
By Sarah Bruyn Jones
Staff Writer
October 01. 2006 3:30AM
Citizens in Moundville are trying to do everything they can to keep
some mental health clients out of town.
“No one wants them in Moundville," said Moundville Mayor Jack
Morrison. “None of the citizens, none of the council wants them
here."
At issue is Indian Rivers Mental Health Center’s plan to open a
residential facility in town.
Indian Rivers signed a two-year lease for the former assisted living
building in Moundville, located at 275 2nd Ave., which was, until
July, the Carthage Villas assisted living facility.
When the agency applied to have the water and telephone service
connected, the Moundville council called a special meeting Monday to
discuss ways to stop the move.
“I hope everyone understands we are doing everything we can to
prevent this," said Councilmember Patricia Tanski at Monday’s
meeting.
The council’s main concern? The safety of its residents.
“If we put those type of people in there [the facility] how do we
know they aren’t going to walk out and kidnap someone?" Morrison
asked at one point during the Monday meeting.
Said Moundville Councilmember Kirk Pearson, “I can tell you what,
I’ve been around crazy people all my life, Moundville doesn’t want
any more."
Indian Rivers’ Executive Director Jim Moore said this week that
there have been no significant safety incidences at Bryce Hospital,
where the residential living facility is located.
“We think all of our consumers deserve a good, safe place to live,"
Moore said. “We’ve been operating now for a year and a half on
another location without incident, but I can’t guarantee there won’t
ever be one."
Moore also noted that the facility would be monitored 24-hours a day
by Indian Rivers staff, and residents would have daily access to
psychiatrists or nurse practitioners.
But the Moundville Town Council may not have any recourse to keep
Indian Rivers out.
At the meeting, the council considered zoning changes, refusing a
business license, refusing to turn on the utilities, and contacting
the attorney general. They also considered mandating that a fence be
built to the town’s specifications around the facility.
Town attorney Robert Spence, however, rebuffed each option. The
zoning can’t be changed because zoning applies to the property, not
the business operated there. Because of Indian River’s nonprofit
status, it doesn’t need a town business license. It’s illegal to
refuse water and electrical services, and premature to get the
attorney general involved.
In the end, the council voted to make their displeasure known to the
local governing bodies that appoint members to the Indian Rivers
board. They unanimously voted to contact the Tuscaloosa County
commission and the Northport and Tuscaloosa city councils.
“[The town council] cannot stop Indian Rivers if they choose to
utilize the facility," Spence said in an e-mail Friday. “And I think
you heard them say that they were not going to play games and try to
make it difficult for Indian Rivers."
Indian Rivers’ plan for the building was long known to the council.
A town meeting was held in February to discuss the possibility and
what the presence of an intermediate residential facility would
entail.
Intermediate residential facilities are a step-down housing
environment for mental health patients making the transition from
acute care hospitalization to living on their own. Such facilities
are a growing national trend that is intended to help alleviate
overcrowding in mental health hospitals and ensure that patients
aren’t left to fend on their own before they’re able.
“It’s sort of on the leading edge of things, that type of
intermediate care," said John Zeigler, spokesman for the Department
of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. “Indian Rivers is being
very progressive in doing that."
For the past year and a half Indian Rivers has moved about 300
people through the 32 beds -- two 16-bed facilities -- it had in the
intermediate program housed at Bryce.
“Ideally they are in [intermediate care] for under 120 days," said
Moore. “There is already a lot of turnover."
Right location
But the program is having to leave Bryce for two reasons: Bryce
wants the space, and residents of the program cannot get needed
Supplemental Security Income or Medicaid benefits while they are
housed on state hospital grounds.
Bryce asked Indian Rivers about a year ago to find a new location
for the program, Moore said. Indian Rivers closed one of the 16-bed
Bryce programs this week, moving it to a 10-bed facility at
Pinefield Apartments in Tuscaloosa, where Indian Rivers staff
offices were located. The offices were renovated and turned into
living quarters when the need for residential space arose. The
offices have been relocated to Indian Rivers’ facility at the
Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Moore said there is no specific timeline to close the other 16-bed
operation at Bryce and move those beds to the facility in
Moundville. He said he doesn’t have any other options, but with
public opposition mounting, he might reconsider the move.
Boundaries
Morrison and his colleagues say Moundville is the wrong place to
move the clients, partially because the town doesn’t use Indian
Rivers’ services. Moundville is just over the Tuscaloosa line in
Hale County, which is served by the West Alabama Mental Health
Center in Demopolis. Indian Rivers’ catchments include Bibb,
Tuscaloosa and Pickens counties.
“There is probably a need for that type of facility, but we don’t
think the location is right," Morrison said Friday.
But the intermediate residential program doesn’t just serve people
that fall within Indian Rivers’ borders, Moore said. He notes that
people throughout West Alabama, including Hale County, are admitted
to the program.
That’s because, in part, no other mental health center in the area
runs a similar program. In fact, Mobile is the only other center in
the state with an intermediate residential program.
But the Moundville town council is still concerned, since citizens
of Hale County don’t have a voice on the Indian Rivers board, Spence
said.
Moore said he has a “memo of understanding" from the West Alabama
Mental Health Center that serves Hale County, to run the facility in
Moundville.
Reach Sarah Bruyn Jones at sarah.jones@tuscaloosanews.com or
205-722-0209. |
