OGDENSBURG -- Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center’s Board of Directors says it will not be able to meet the need of inpatient treatment, if St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center ends its services.

The board recently passed a resolution urging Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to retain inpatient services at the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center. The document said the hospital already struggles to meet the public's need for care.

"Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, a private, non-profit 9.39-designated hospital for St. Lawrence County, exceeds capacity for inpatient and emergency patients frequently, and closure of SLPC exacerbates the problem," the resolution says. "In the interest of stewardship and economic stabilization of an endangered micropolitan area, New York State should further explore continued operation of SLPC at some level."

The hospital is the latest of more than 50 organizations and municipalities to send support letters to the state opposing the New York State Office of Mental Health plan to close both adult and children's inpatient psychiatric hospital beds at the state hospital in Ogdensburg.

"SLPC is the only such State facility north of the Thruway and provides high quality care for residents, and whereas transportation of children and adolescents to Utica, 135 miles from Ogdensburg, separates families and contradicts a healthy, holistic approach to mental health care," the resolution says.