Institute's adolescent, geriatric units on the block

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

State Senator Phillip Puckett (D-38th) believes Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute’s adolescent unit, whose funding is proposed for elimination in Senate and House versions of the budget, stands about a “50-50 chance or a little less” of surviving in some form.
The closure of the unit and a proposal to move SWVMHI’s geriatric unit to the Piedmont Geriatric Center in Burkeville are among drastic budgetary measures in consideration by the General Assembly.
Puckett said from Richmond Monday a compromise among lawmakers saved the Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents at Staunton that, like its Marion counterpart, was zeroed out in former Gov. Timothy Kaine’s budget proposal.
“It took a lot of negotiations to make that work,” the senator said.
For adolescents and their families in Southwest Virginia, “We’d take two beds if we can get them,” Puckett said. “They have the funding to deal with those, but it’s in Staunton. We’d take anything we can get so you don’t have to drive all the way to Staunton.”
Puckett said two beds would accommodate the average number of adolescents at the facility. But the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services reported Jan. 25 the Marion unit had 16 beds and an average daily census of six at an average cost was $1,398 per child, per day. The unit employed 27.
Delegate Bill Carrico (R-5th) said late Friday from Richmond he was “trying to get it back in the budget” through an amendment “that was rejected. It’s in conference, and I’m still trying to get something in the bill. Hopefully, we’ll have at least one of the units back in there.”
But Carrico doesn’t see the compromise that would keep the Staunton adolescent unit open as a reasonable tradeoff for families in Southwest Virginia.
“Staunton is three hours from Marion and five hours from Lee County,” Carrico said. “I don’t know how you can justify that as being in the region.”
Puckett based his estimation of the Marion’s unit’s chances of restoration on the presence of Sen. William Wampler (D-40th) on the General Assembly Conference Committee that hammers out differences in House and Senate bills.
“Sen. Wampler has always had a knack for pulling off things we never thought were possible,” Puckett said.
Wampler, who did not respond to requests for comment, and Puckett teamed up to get the adolescent and geriatric units back in the Senate’s version of the budget. Bill-tracking records showed Wampler and Puckett as respective chief patron and co-patron on amendments to restore $2 million to keep the geriatric unit in Marion and $700,000 the first year and $1.4 million the second year to retain the adolescent unit.
The record shows Carrico proposing similar amendments in the House.
Transportation of adolescents from Southwest Virginia to other centers in the state is an issue facing the region’s communities, according to Carrico. That was a concern voiced by closure opponents last winter when Kaine proposed closing the Marion adolescent unit.
In an appeal to Marion’s town council members for support in January 2009, Ron Parsons, adolescent program director at the unit, said the proposed closure assumes the cases will be picked up by private adolescent treatment centers. The nearest private adolescent unit, he said, is in Salem at the Lewis-Gale Center for Behavioral Health. “Next is Lynchburg, then Petersburg, Richmond, Hampton Roads, Fredericksburg,” he said.
About nine of every 10 adolescents admitted to the unit are transported there by law enforcement officers on temporary detention orders, or TDOs. “How much of a problem will it be, when a TDO is issued, for [Marion Police] Chief [Mike] Roberts to pull an officer to go to Salem?” Parsons asked.
The proposed adolescent unit closure has not generated the local public response as seen last year when Parsons and the unit’s education director, Teresa McNeil, requested Marion Town Council urge lawmakers to continue funding the facility.
Council members answered the request with a resolution that said the unit was the only source of inpatient services for children ages 13-17 west of Roanoke, allowed Southwest Virginia families to participate in therapy, reduced their travel costs, and employed 37.
“I haven’t heard from local governments, but [the unit’s closure] will be a cost to them,” Carrico said. “Sheriff’s deputies will have to drive three to five hours, depending on where they’re coming from. I think it was short-sighted by the Kaine administration both years.”
Carrico said his next step would be “working with the governor’s office” to restore funding for the unit.

dkegley@wythenews.com