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Local religious, educational leaders lobby state officials to keep Ogdensburg Psych Center open

Posted 6/1/13

By JIMMY LAWTON OGDENSBURG -- Several prominent religious and education leaders are lobbying state officials as the task force dedicated to preserving the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center awaits news …

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Local religious, educational leaders lobby state officials to keep Ogdensburg Psych Center open

Posted

By JIMMY LAWTON

OGDENSBURG -- Several prominent religious and education leaders are lobbying state officials as the task force dedicated to preserving the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center awaits news from the Office of Mental Health.

The state Office of Mental Health announced Friday that their plan for revisions to the structure of the state’s mental health facilities, including possible closures of the Ogdensburg and other hospitals, will be released July 8.

Diocese of Ogdensburg Bishop Terry LaValley, and Clarkson University President Tony Collins recently sent letters urging Kristin Woodlock, acting commissioner of the Office of Mental Health, to maintain the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center.

The letters are a response to the state's plan to establish "Regional Centers of Excellence," which will focus on more specialized treatments and move toward outpatient care. The complete letters can be viewed at NorthCountryNow.com/Letters

Although state officials have not formally announced closures, many are predicting the state will close at least some of the state's 24 hospitals.

Ogdensburg City Manager John Pinkerton, who is also a member of the task force, said the group wants the state to see the variety of reasons that SLPC should remain open. He said support from community leaders like Collins and LaValley are important to that effort.

"We don't want to be negative. Our goal is to show the state all the positives the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center has to offer," Pinkerton said.

Clarkson’s Collins sent two letters to Commissioner Woodlock. In his first letter, Collins stated St. Lawrence Psychiatric was an ideal candidate for a proposed “Regional Center of Excellence.”

“With five colleges and universities located within St. Lawrence County, and many more in the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center's catchment area, there is clearly the potential to form the educational affiliations and partnerships needed to develop this facility into a "Regional Center of Excellence,” Collins wrote.

He also emphasized the impact a closure would have on the local economy.

“The job loss associated with a facility closure of this magnitude could undermine the City's ability to provide the range of government services and K-12 educational opportunities that make or break a community like Ogdensburg's ability to attract private sector development to the area.”

In a second letter, Collins pointed out that Clarkson and other schools use SLPC for academic purposes. He said Clarkson students working in psychology and the physician’s assistant program already use the facility for internships and clinical rotations. He said the facility could also be used for college’s occupational therapy program, which would include clinic rotations and internships.

“Clarkson University already has deep educational and professional ties with the Center, and we are looking forward to even more ties in the future,” he said in his letter,

To read the complete letters from LaValley, Collins and Will, visit www.NorthCountryNow.com/letters.

In his letter, Bishop LaValley expressed concerns that the mentally ill and the local economy would suffer if the center were closed.

"I am concerned that the closure or the reduction of services at the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center (SLPC) would adversely affect the care for the mentally ill and would have adverse economic consequences on an area of the state that already faces great economic challenges," LaValley wrote.

LaValley said the lack of other nearby facilities would be especially detrimental to the North Country because its isolation from the population centers of the state.

"SLPC is the only psychiatric hospital serving the North Country. The area served by SLPC extends from the Vermont border, near Clinton County to the shores of Lake Ontario. Closure of SLPC would result in persons requiring inpatient psychiatric care being sent to Utica or Syracuse," he wrote. "Such placement at distant psychiatric hospitals would be in direct opposition of the goals stated in OMH's proposal, which emphasizes the advantage of offering care for the mentally ill near their home communities."

Pinkerton said the task force believes the letters play an important role in showing the state the importance of the SLPC to the public, the economy and the local academic institutes. He said SLPC already meets the criteria for a center of excellence and wants the state to realize that.

"We don't want to be for what we already have. We want to work with the state. Lets find ways to improve it and lets find ways to make it even better," he said.