Cuts to Western and Eastern State Hospitals could lead to release of patients

Posted by Letters editor

Patients would never be released unless community systems were in place
I am concerned that a Times story [“Cuts could close wards, send mentally ill to communities,” NWSunday, Nov. 13] might contribute to public stigma about people living with dementia, traumatic brain injury and mental illness and suggest that we would release persons who are dangerous to themselves or others who cannot do well and be safe in the appropriate community setting.
People with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia — who are not in need of active psychiatric treatment — are living out their lives in a state psychiatric hospital. Is that what you would want for your parents or grandparents?
Housing patients at a state psychiatric hospital at $584 a day, when their doctors say they don’t need active treatment for a psychiatric disorder, is unconscionable, for the taxpayers and for the patients.
These are hospitals to provide intensive psychiatric inpatient treatment and stabilization for return to the community — not long-term care facilities.
We propose to close wards at Western State Hospital that currently house individuals with dementia or traumatic brain injury or who have been decertified by their psychiatrist as no longer needing active inpatient psychiatric treatment for a psychological disorder. A portion of the savings from the ward closures would be reinvested into creating additional appropriate and safe community placements for individuals in these four wards.
We will never make a decision to release one of these patients without an appropriate community setting that meets their needs.
— Susan N. Dreyfus, secretary of Washington Department of Social and Health Services, Olympia