Mental health concerns are at an all-time high one year into the pandemic, both for adults facing numerous stressors and for children whose lives have changed dramatically.
That’s one reason proposed state budget cuts to the state Office of Mental Health (OMH), especially to inpatient treatment beds for children, are so alarming.
The proposed budget calls for the closure of the Rockland Children’s Psychiatric Center (RCPC), moving their inpatient beds to the Bronx, which would leave an area from the Bronx to Utica with no access to state operated children’s psychiatric beds.
Gamble
“This couldn’t be happening at a worse time,” said Rockland Psychiatric Center Local President Brenda Gamble. “Our staff are very concerned about the impact this would have on the children and their families. Our members are sometimes there as long as 16 hours per day, so they become family to these kids.”
Moving these services to the Bronx will create personal and economic hardships for workers and families. The facility serves children in a large catchment area with the majority of children coming from Rockland, Westchester, Sullivan and Ulster. Further, family involvement in the treatment of these children is essential for their well-being and health.
Among the members advocating against these cuts is activist Donna Wargo, an administrative assistant at Rockland Children’s Psychiatric Center. She noted that mental illness in children impacts entire families, something that will be exacerbated by eliminating the only state-run children’s facility between the Bronx and Utica.
“There is a great need for the children’s hospital,” said Wargo. “An emergency room isn’t the place for these children. Police and EMS are often sent out to respond. These children are having psychiatric issues, and this is the place where we can really get them the help they need.”
Devastating cuts all over
CSEA is lobbying state lawmakers to restore these and other proposed OMH cuts.
Specifically, the proposed budget cuts 200 inpatient psychiatric beds across the state, including 88 children’s beds; 78 adult beds and more than 100 forensic beds statewide.
The proposed cut is the latest move cutting children’s mental health care across the state. Since 2014, the state has eliminated more than 30 percent of children’s psychiatric beds statewide, as well as 20 percent of adult beds. There are no services being brought up to replace these cuts leaving families in need without services at all.
CSEA members are concerned about proposed children’s psychiatric bed cuts at other OMH facilities. Despite a long waiting list of parents seeking to get their children treatment at the center, Sagamore Children’s Psychiatric Center on Long Island is in danger of losing nine more beds under the proposed state budget.
Colon
“Every bed that we lose signifies another child who isn’t getting help,” said CSEA Long Island Developmental Disabilities Services Office and Sagamore Children’s Psychiatric Center Local 1st Vice President Jennifer Colon. “It means that kids sitting in the E.R. whose insurance has run out will have to go home without services or go back to the E.R. and possibly end up trapped in the system.”
At the Greater Binghamton Health Center (GBHC), proposed bed cuts would limit access to critical mental health services in the Southern Tier. CSEA GBHC Local President Lisa Stuckey said when it comes to children’s care, the need is even more critical, as there’s always a wait list for treatment. “The minute we discharge someone, it’s not even a day later we have someone new,” she said.
Stuckey is also concerned about children having to be sent to facilities away from their homes to seek treatment.
“It’s difficult for their families to see them every day and that’s part of
their well-being, to be visited by their family,” Stuckey said.
In Western New York, CSEA members are stymied over the justification for the cuts.
Hosie
“The proposal to reduce the number of inpatient beds by 56 percent at the Western New York Children’s Psychiatric Center in West Seneca is totally unacceptable,” said Western New York DDSO Local President Colleen Hosie. “We are still in the middle of a pandemic and the need for mental health services is skyrocketing. Eliminating beds at this time is counterintuitive — and will devastate families who deserve quality mental health services.”
Suicide rates rising in children with mental health issues
Putting these cuts into horrifying perspective is an alarming rise in suicides being seen throughout the country, likely due to the pandemic.
Binghamton Greater Health Center Local President Lisa Stuckey, left,
second from top, and her co-workers explain to State Sen. Fred Akshar,
right, second from top, the negative impact bed reductions will have on
their community.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an increase in pediatric mental health-related visits to hospital emergency rooms from April to October 2020. National Public Radio recently reported that many suicidal children have shown up in hospital ERs, and more kids are needing inpatient care after serious suicide attempts.
Unfortunately, there is already a lack of treatment options for children with mental health issues. The disruptions of in-person services that they may have previously relied on in their communities or at school, and the isolation from others during the pandemic has only worsened the situation.
“New York can’t turn its back on children struggling with serious mental health issues,” said CSEA President Mary E. Sullivan. We cannot afford to lose children to suicide because they didn’t have available treatment options.”
Members lobby against cuts
CSEA members throughout the state have been holding online meetings with state legislators to push back against the OMH cuts. A bipartisan coalition of legislators in CSEA’s Southern Region recently joined CSEA activists in publicly opposing the Rockland Children’s Psychiatric Center closure.
CSEA members can join the union’s efforts advocating against the mental health cuts by going to our online Legislative Action Center at https://cseany.org/issues and taking action.
— Jessica Ladlee, Wendi Bowie, Nicholas Newcomb and Ove Overmyer
