Health of the mental health system

By Hilary Russell
After the legislative Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability recommended last week to close Howe Developmental Center in Tinley Park, Gov. Pat Quinn decided this week to conduct his own investigation to determine if the facility should be closed. The committee also recommended closing Tinley Park Mental Health Center, although the governor has not announced if he will conduct an investigation of that facility.




In a statement, Quinn’s office announced the appointment of Anne Shannon to conduct an independent investigation of the allegations made about the Howe Developmental Center that led to the recommendation that it be closed. Shannon is a former president and chief executive officer of a nonprofit organization for people with developmental disabilities.

The goal is to determine if the facility can be remedied to continue operating.

If Howe were to close, members of the American Federation for State, County, and Municipal Employees union would be out of jobs, and patients would be out of their home. Henry Bayer, AFSCME Council 31 executive director, expressed his disapproval of the committee’s decision in a statement.

“At a hastily convened meeting, … nine lawmakers voted to embrace Rod Blagojevich’s scheme to shutter Howe, an essential public health facility that serves individuals with profound developmental disabilities,” Bayer said. “It’s up to Pat Quinn to step in. At stake are the lives of countless individuals with severe mental illnesses and profound developmental disabilities, as well as the jobs of 1,000 dedicated employees.”

An organized group of parents of the residents also opposes the closure. Betty Turturillo, president of Howe Family and Friends, has a 57-year-old daughter who has lived at Howe since 1974. “We feel our loved ones are well taken care of, and many of the people there are older and … are not appropriate for community placement. It’ll be very hard on many of them to be moved, and many of them will not survive the move,” she said. “Howe is not a dumping ground for our relatives.”

Shannon is expected to report her findings to Quinn by the end of June, when a final decision is expected to be made on Howe’s fate.

On the same note, rallies were held in Springfield and Chicago today by advocates for mental health services who believe the only way to preserve and improve the state’s mental health facilities is to raise taxes and invest more money in treatment options. Several state representatives, including Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat, and Patricia Bellock, a Hinsdale Republican, were on hand to give their support.

“One thing we must not do in the process of figuring out the budget is to abandon all of you,” Lang said to the crowd. “We must find a way to find the dollars for treatment in local communities because treatment works.”

“We know we can take people out of nursing home settings and put them into a community setting because they will flourish there,” said Bellock. According to Bellock, by moving developmentally disabled and mentally ill patients out of clinical-type settings and into ones that look and feel more like home, they will make progress, or, at least, be happier.

Mental health advocates fear the state’s $12.4 billion projected budget deficit will lead lawmakers to slice treatment options, a similar concern in previous years. “We are already one of the most underfunded community health service states ranked in the country,” said Mark Heyrman, a law professor at the University of Chicago Law School who helped organize the rally. “Now what’s happened is there are more people with serious mental illnesses in the state prison system than in all of the public and private psychiatric hospitals combined.”

The ninth annual Mental Health Rally and Lobby Day held on the steps of the Capitol brought together mental health-related advocacy organizations and those suffering from mental illness to urge the governor to avoid cutting additional programs and to preserve money designed for treatment and facilities.

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Panel votes to close two health centers

By Hilary Russell

In an 11th-hour move, Gov. Pat Quinn sent a letter requesting an extension in the decision to close the William A. Howe Developmental Center in Tinley Park, a Chicago suburb. The letter was sent to members of the legislative Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, requesting a minimum 30-day extension to complete his own assessment of the facility.




Howe, which houses developmentally disabled adults, has had its share of problems in the past three years. It was decertified almost two years ago by the federal government for failing to meet minimum standards of care, forcing the state to pick up the check for the center’s operating costs.

Prior to today’s vote, committee members expressed dismay concerning the governor’s actions.

“This is a difficult decision for all the members of this commission. I just think it’s irresponsible of the governor at this late stage to come in with a letter and ask us to delay this decision,” said Sen. Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican. “My opinion is, the worst thing we can do is be indecisive. We should make a decision for the commission and move forward for all those affected, and I just can’t fathom why we would grant an extension at this late date, even for the governor.”

In an effort to explain the governor’s actions, Michelle Saddler, Quinn's director of policy, and Sean Vinck, chief legislative counsel, spoke on his behalf. “The principle that’s guided us is a fundamental one. First, do no harm,” said Vinck. “We’re very concerned about taking any other action because we fear unintended consequences, so we take it with great seriousness. … We decided that the best course to pursue was to engage an outside consultant who can objectively and meaningfully evaluate the circumstances and give a recommendation based on wisdom, good philosophy and good practice, and that’s the position we’d like to take.”

With 12 members present, the vote was deadlocked 6 to 6, but with a quorum of seven votes needed to deny the governor’s request, the motion died and Howe is now recommended for closure. However, the State Facilities Closure Act makes a closure by the commission only advisory to the governor.

Similarly, the committee members also voted to close Tinley Mental Health Center. Both facilities occupy the same parcel of land. Members voted 9 to 3 in favor of closure.

Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat, voted yes on both measures. “I think (Quinn has) been trying to find someone for a while to take a different look at Howe, … but the timing of (the request) was a little stunning,” she said. Nekritz said closing either facility won’t happen overnight. “In order to adequately meet the needs of the residents, it’s going to take months to do that because they’re going to have find appropriate placements, placements that the families are comfortable with. And that’s going to take awhile for the department to work through, but they’ve been planning for this, so I think that they should feel they can do this in fairly short order, in a matter of months.”

Rep. Richard Myers, a Colchester Republican, also voted to close Howe. He said that visiting with the Illinois Department of Human Services, which supported the closing, gave him reason to consider his position. “Looking at the facts about the operations there, and the question surrounding the deaths and the fact that we haven’t been able to be certified by the federal government to receive Medicaid reimbursement,” he said. “All of those facts combined suggested to me that it is time to close that facility.” But if the governor accepts the commission’s recommendation, Myers expects there to be a public outcry. “In the past few days, our office has received numerous calls from families who wanted it to stay open because they felt their care there was such that they were able to continue to stay together,” he said. “And I can understand that. Others, of course, feel there’s a real lack of care.”

Advocates who wanted the center closed cite at least 30 deaths that have occurred on the grounds in the past 2 ½ years, one as recent as last month.
See background here.

Tom Green, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Human Services, said he is pleased with the decision made today by the commission.

Sheila Romano, executive director of the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities, said in a statement: “Howe’s closure is a very difficult, emotional issue for all parties who are advocating for what they believe is best. We urge the people of Illinois or elected officials and policy-makers to reflect on whether there is a place for a failed institution that has lost all federal funding due to repeated allegations of substandard care and neglect.”

Advocates who want the center to stay open tell a much different story.
Belinda Baker, director of the Mechanical and Transportation Department at Howe Developmental Center, said she thinks members made a terrible mistake. “First they need to review all of the facts and look at the data that we’ve provided that shows we give quality care to all of the patients and residents of Howe,” she said. As for any alleged incidents of mistreatment and the number of deaths reported in the past three years, Baker said, those can happen anywhere.

“You’re going to have deaths at any facility based on the age and the health issues that some of our residents have,” she said. “The majority of those are attributed to natural causes. They were not because of any abuse or neglect.”

Betty Turturillo, president of the Howe Family and Friends Association, said the group is “is outraged that the members of COGFA think they know better than us what is best for our loved ones.” Turturillo added that the closing of a facility like Howe doesn’t just affect the patients. “The real ‘choices’ that have been offered to Howe families if our center closes are no choice at all. We would have to choose between moving to another state center much farther away or settle for fewer services in the community, often in more isolated settings, that could endanger our loved ones.”

The commission’s recommendations are filed May 9, 2009, at which time Quinn will either accept the vote or proceed with an independent inquiry into Howe before issuing a decision.

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Mental health facilities closure on hold

By Hilary Russell

The decision whether to permanently close Howe Developmental Center and Tinley Park Mental Health Center in the Chicago suburbs has been postponed. Illinois Issues wrote about it in June 2008. The federal government decertified the facilities in 2007 when reports revealed that clients were unnecessarily drugged or restrained without medical justification.

Legislators on the bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability decided that in the wake of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment by the Illinois House, it was better to wait until a full Senate trial determined whether Blagojevich would be kicked out of office.



“In light of these developments,” said Sen. Jeffrey Schoenberg, reading from a draft report outlining the commission’s opinion on the closures, “given these extraordinary circumstances, the responsible action is to quarantine this transaction.”

The commission said it would make a decision within 60 days after the Senate impeachment trial is completed. The trial is scheduled to start January 26.

Nine panel members affirmed the decision, while one dissented. Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat, said the state has waited long enough and has spent millions of dollars that could have been spread out to other facilities.

According to the draft, five people have died since October and at least one in December, alone, accounting for more than 25 deaths in the past few years.

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