Community fights on Short-term reprieve at Sagamore DIX HILLS — The fight continues at Sagamore Children’s Psychiatric Center. After months of strong community pressure to keep Sagamore Children’s Psychiatric Center open, the state has changed course on its original plans to close the center by the end of June 2014. State officials recently announced that instead of shuttering Long Island’s only psychiatric center for children, it will instead downsize the center’s 54 beds to 27 beds. Fight goes on While the revised plan buys some time, community members are now fighting to keep the original 54 beds — the only ones on Long Island that specifically serve children and which are badly needed. Sagamore will remain open at least through this fiscal year, but it’s still unclear what the state’s long-term plans are for the center. The governor had previously backed off his plans to close Greater Binghamton Health Center, St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center and Elmira Psychiatric Center after strong community opposition to those closures. A fight continues at Western New York Children’s Psychiatric Center near Buffalo. (See story, page 12) The state’s revised decision on Sagamore comes on the heels of a community rally in which community activists, CSEA members and Long Community members participate in a recent rally to save Sagamore. The Save Sagamore coalition has organized numerous grassroots efforts to save the psychiatric center. Island state legislators participated. “The community’s message has been heard, as it has been in other parts of the state,” said CSEA President Danny Donohue. “These are bad budget choices. These services are vital to many people, and shouldn’t be treated as budget items to be shifted about by policy makers and bureaucrats who have no experience in providing care.” The Feb. 14 rally was the latest event in months of strong community opposition to the governor’s original plan to close Sagamore as part of his misguided “Centers of Excellence” plan that would downsize the number of state psychiatric hospitals from 24 to 15 and re-focus mental health care efforts into community-based services. But the governor’s plan offered vague details about how to provide such community-based services, and left a gaping hole for inpatient mental health services in numerous parts of the state. That gaping hole included the children that Sagamore serves. The governor’s plan had called for children in need of inpatient psychiatric care to be sent to Queens or the Bronx, which would harm children and families who need this care to be closer to home. “These services are vital to many people, and shouldn’t be treated as budget items to be shifted about by policy makers and bureaucrats who have no experience in providing care.” Community efforts Community efforts to save these services have been strong. Save Sagamore, a coalition that includes community residents, public advocacy groups and Sagamore workers, has been fighting to keep the center open since the governor announced the closure plan last year. The group has been holding demonstrations and other public events aimed at raising awareness and gathering support, including gathering more than 7,000 petition signatures from Long Island residents urging the state to keep Sagamore open, distributing T-shirts and car magnets, using social media to spread their message and reaching out to state and local lawmakers for support. The town councils in Huntington, Hempstead and Babylon have all issued proclamations of support for keeping Sagamore open. State legislators, including state Assemblymembers Fred Thiele, Andrew Raia and Al Graf, as well as state Sens. Lee Zeldin, Phil Boyle and John Flanagan all attended the Feb. 14 community rally and spoke out in support of keeping the facility open. Also participating in the rally were CSEA Long Island Region President Nick LaMorte, Long Island Developmental Center and Sagamore Children’s Psychiatric Center Local President Pete Marriott, numerous other Long Island Region activists and Long Island Federation of Labor President Roger Clayman. But community members and CSEA are making clear that they have plenty of fight left to keep Sagamore open and preserve the full number of beds. “Sagamore is unique on Long Island and irreplaceable to the community,” said LaMorte. “This facility treats the children that other institutions have been unable to help. It is the only place around here equipped to help the neediest children, the ones most at risk of dying or hurting others due to mental illness.” — Rich Impagliazzo and Janice Gavin Long Island Region President Nick LaMorte urges the state to save Sagamore during the community rally, flanked by Assemblyman Fred Thiele and State Sen. Phil Boyle. 8 The Work Force March 2014
March_14_WF
To see the actual publication please follow the link above