ELIZABETH COOPER
Observer-Dispatch

More patients and more staffers coming to the Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center would add stress to workers and patients, union representatives said.

Under Gov. George Pataki's plan, 111 patients and 236 staffers from Hutchings would be transferred to the Mohawk Valley site in West Utica. The state Legislature would have to approve the closing of Hutchings.

There won't be many new jobs, said Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center employee Michael Del Piano, a representative for the Public Employees Federation, which represents doctors, nurses and social workers at both facilities.

"(Hutchings staffers) would bring their seniority with them," he said. "Then, if there was a reduction at Mohawk Valley that changes where you stand."

At Hutchings, about 124 employees would lose their jobs if the proposal is approved.

"They're just waiting for the ax to hit their neck," said Maureen Hogle, a case manager at the facility and the PEF representative at Hutchings.

The plan to merge Hutchings and Mohawk Valley inpatient services is part of a larger proposal to eliminate three state-run facilities in Upstate New York. The other facilities are in Elmira and Middletown. Two facilities in the Bronx could be closed in 2005.

Savings from the three upstate closures are an estimated $18 million, said Andrew Rush, a spokesman for the state Division of the Budget. The money will be channeled back into the state mental health system, including relocation assistance for workers displaced by the changes.

Roger Klingman of the state Office of Mental Health said there are fewer long-term psychiatric patients in the state than anticipated, so changes are necessary.

In the early 1990s, the agency renovated certain facilities based on the number of patients currently in the system, and Mohawk Valley was one of them.

"What the planners did not foresee is the release of a lot of anti-psychotic drugs that would enable people to live lives in their community," Klingman explained.

The numbers are still declining. According to Office of Mental Health figures for February 2000, Mohawk Valley had 155 adult inpatients and 28 youths, but in February 2003 that facility has just 124 adults and 25 youths. Klingman said psychiatric facilities across the state are seeing similar decreases.

Hutchings went from 104 adults and 15 youths to 97 adults and 14 youths during that period. Statewide numbers have been declining since the mid 1950s, Klingman said. In 1955, the system had 93,000 inpatients and today there are just 5,400.

Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center's Wright Building was modernized during the 1990s, but Hutchings, built in the 1970s, was untouched, Klingman said. Thus, if the Hutchings patients moved, they would be entering a newer facility, while the state would be saving the otherwise inevitable cost of renovating Hutchings, he said.

Additionally, Klingman said there are very few long-term patients now residing in psychiatric facilities, particularly children under 18. Today, three-quarters of children in such facilities stay less than six months, whereas 30 years ago, three-quarters stayed more than six months.

So, he explained, the separation of patients from their families would not be permanent.

Del Piano, however, said he believes many patients are released before they are ready to be on their own.

"It's just common knowledge that when they take their medication, they're OK, but then (many) stop because of the side effect," Del Piano said. "There's not enough follow-up."

Administrators at Hutchings and Mohawk Valley declined to comment on the plan.

Hutchings' outpatient services would remain intact under the plan, so the 151 staffers who work on those programs would keep their jobs if the move is approved.

Just as disturbing as potential job losses and worker stress, to both Del Piano and Hogle, is the setback such a move could cause patients.

Far from family and friends, Syracuse-based patients will have a harder time recovering," said Del Piano, adding, "That makes it harder to work with them when they come here."

If the inpatient facility is closed, Hutchings' 97 adults and 14 youth inpatients will be moved to Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center, 60 miles away, a prohibitive distance for the weekly visits from relatives to their mentally ill loved ones.

Hogle's 25-year-old stepson, Glenn, is schizophrenic and recently spent four months at Hutchings, after years in and out of other area facilities.

"This is the first time in seven years he has been stable," said Hogle. "Having family involvement made all the difference in the world for him."

Because Hogle is a staffer at Hutchings, the institution was reluctant to admit him, so the family was forced to use hospitals and institutions that were further away. But the administration finally relented and the improvements have been dramatic, Hogle said.

"We could go visit on our lunch hour or after work," she said of the time Glenn spent at Hutchings. "In Utica that would be impossible. Here we could see him three or four times a week, there it would be three or four times a month because everybody's working."

Hogle said Glenn, now an outpatient, will almost certainly relapse and need to be readmitted somewhere as an inpatient, as is common among schizophrenics. When that happens, Hogle fears his progress will be hindered if he is far away.

Jerome Dexter, the brother of a former Hutchings inpatient, agreed.

"It would be too stressful," he said of the move. "It would only add to his problems." He also noted that his brother, Mike, might be afraid he would never come back if he went that far.

Legislators react

Now, the fate of Hutchings is up to the state legislators, who are fine-tuning Pataki's proposed budget.

State Sen. Nancy Larraine Hoffmann, R-Syracuse, said she is opposed to the consolidation.

"Every community deserves its full compliment of health care, and that includes mental health facilities," she said. "We can't subject families to a 60 or 70-mile drive when their presence is essential to the care of a loved one."

Hoffmann added that the state senators were, for the most part, against closing Hutchings.

But Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito, D-Utica, said she is waiting to learn more about the consolidation plan.

"How are they planning to work with the families? What resources will be placed at Mohawk Valley to help?" she asked, saying there is a chance once the inpatients depart Hutchings, the outpatient services will be dismantled. "We're looking for more details."

Del Piano said he hoped Hutchings' inpatient facility stays open.

"The only positive is Mohawk Valley is a place they're thinking of keeping open," he said.