It's official – New York now leaves people with serious and persistent mental illness on their own

ALBANY, NY (12/19/2013)(readMedia)-- New York state is leaving people with serious and persistent mental illness on their own under a new initiative that requires them to fend for themselves.

The state Office of Mental Health is planning to move patients with serious mental illness out of state psychiatric centers and into Single Residency Occupancy (SRO) units throughout the state. SROs are private apartments where individuals would live on their own with minimal supervision from mental health professionals.

"We've criticized the state on many occasions for not doing enough to care for the mentally ill," said CSEA President Danny Donohue. "But now they're officially leaving people with very serious illness on their own."

Patients currently in state psychiatric centers are among the most seriously ill. Many exhibit severe behavioral problems that can pose a serious risk to communities. In psychiatric centers, staff and treatment are available 24 hours a day. In SROs, however, individuals may only be visited by a mental health professional as little as once or twice a week.

"That's like giving a Band-Aid to someone who needs a tourniquet," Donohue said.

The union suspects the reasons behind the new initiative are financial rather than medical. It comes as the Cuomo administration is proposing to close state psychiatric centers from Long Island to Buffalo, and the union is skeptical that so many patients could somehow have been rehabilitated so suddenly.

CSEA believes there are better options for the state to invest in community care, including state operated group homes and other supervised living arrangements where adequate treatment, staff and other support is available.

According to a Request For Proposals obtained by the union, OMH plans to open 75 SROs in Central New York, 150 in the Hudson River Region, 100 on Long Island, 300 in New York City and 75 in Western New York.

State inpatient facilities scheduled to close, downsize or merge next year include Greater Binghamton Health Center, as well as Elmira, Mid-Hudson, Manhattan, Rochester, Saint Lawrence, Rockland Children's, Sagamore Children's and Western New York Children's Psychiatric Centers.

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