[MarignyBywater] Mental Health Community Outraged Over Hospital Closure

[nolarussell at bellsouth.net]

Mental Health Community Outraged Over Hospital ClosureNew Orleans Adolescent Hospital To Close June 1POSTED: 7:17 pm CDT March 21,2009


NEW ORLEANS -- Thelocal mental health community was enraged on Saturday and spoke outagainst the planned closing of the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital.The closure means the loss of about 35 mental health beds and dozens of jobs.Fordecades, New Orleans Adolescent Hospital, or NOAH, has provided careand services to mental health patients. But due to budget cuts, itwon't anymore.The state has ordered the closing of NOAH, shifting roughly 35 mental health beds from New Orleans to the Northshore."Mentalhealth patients need a mental health facility," said Dr. Kevin Stevens,of the New Orleans Health Department. "Going across the lake just isn'tgoing to work for what we need in Louisiana and in New Orleans.""It'sa huge dangerous step backwards," said Cecile Tebo, of the New OrleansPolice Department Crisis Unit. "The fact that they're going to beclosing down their services all together sent complete shockwavesthrough the entire mental health system."Tebo said the planned consolidation caught mental health professionals off guard."None of the people on the ground providing the hands on care knew about this coming down the pike at all," he said.Before Hurricane Katrina, there were about 350 mental health beds in the city. The move drops that number to fewer than 100.NOAH employs more than 234 employees, many with more than 20 years experience in mental health."We'vegot to get this thing together," Stevens said. "Every day that goes byis more problematic. Get on it and do it right now.""People inthe mental health community are going to have to come forward and showoutrage," Tebo said. "This should not be happening right now."NOAH is expected to close June 1.
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