WRESTLING: LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES HEADED TO STATE MEET. | 6C
T H U R S DA Y , F E B R UA R Y 16 , 2012 50 ¢
T U S C A L O O S A , N O R T H P O R T, W E S T A L A B A M A
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
By Dana Beyerle, Lydia Seabol Avant and Jason Morton
83 patients shifted into community based care. 146 announced layoffs
State mental health facility closings
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1. North Alabama Regional Hospital, Decatur 2. Searcy Hospital, Mt. Vernon
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264 patients shifted into community based care. 390 announced layoffs
3. Mary Starke Harper Center, Tuscaloosa, NO CHANGE
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4. Greil Hospital, Montgomery
Tuscaloosa changes below
74 patients shifted into community based b ase care. 139 announced layoffs layof
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Staff Writers
TUSCALOOSA | Under a sweeping plan announced Wednesday, the Alabama Department of Mental Health will close four of the state’s six mental health hospitals and move most patients into community-based care by Sept. 30. Bryce Hospital and the Mary Starke Harper Geriatric Psychiatry Center in Tuscaloosa will remain open, but Bryce will be repurposed to house court-committed criminal, or forensic, patients. Those patients are now at Taylor Hardin SeShould cure Medical Facility, also the Alain Tuscaloosa. bama The plan also calls for Departlaying of f 948 of 1,555 ment of ment al health depa r tMental ment employees state Health wide, including 273 at close Bryce. The 607 employdown ees who will be retained mental will work in Tuscaloosa, hospitals? either at Bryce, an inpaVote in tient psychiatric facility our Web for adults, or the Harper poll at Center, an inpatient psywww. chiatric facility for the eltuscaloosa derly. news.com. The new Bryce, under construction on University Boulevard East, will not replace the existing Br yce as originally planned, but instead will become a secure medical facility, replacing Taylor Hardin. The plan will require shifting the 473 patients in institutions into community-based care by the target date of Sept. 30. State Mental Health Commissioner Zelia Baugh announced the plan to department employees and legislators in a series of meetings Wednesday. “We have looked at every other viable alternative,” she said. “Obviously, the state is facing a dire fiscal situation.” Tuscaloosa area legislators and government leaders, however, denounced the changes, which follow the department’s decision last year to close the W.D. Partlow Developmental Center. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said the plan would cause widespread harm. SEE MENTAL | 4A
Taylor Hardin Secure e Medical Facility, y, Tuscaloosa
B y Bryce H p Hospital, T Tuscaloosa
Will be the the 241 emp. replacementt forensic unitt will transfer to the new employing 241 of the Bryce upon 514 its completion it l ti employees that it now has until the new Bryce is operational in Sept. 2013
159 current employees
The State’s Department of Corrections is considering using Taylor Hardin as a correctional facility.
159 employees transferring
Th The he new Bryce B Hospital, H ospital, (former Partlow
247 patients p shifted into community y based care. 273 layoffs announced
De Development evelopment e velopment Center C pr property) operty),Tusc ,Tuscaloosa
115 patients from Bryce and other facilities around the state will transfer to the new Bryce Patients being held at the Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility (currently full with 115 beds and patients on a waiting list) will be transferred to the new Bryce Hospital (not yet named). STAFF GRAPHIC | ANTHONY BRATINA
Facility closings, budget cuts part of national trend By Lydia Seabol Avant Staff Writer
Closing state mental hospitals and trimming state dollars is not unique to Alabama. It’s part of a nationwide trend that is an effect of the current recession, said Robert W. Glover, executive director of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors. “Each year, state budget cuts have taken a big hit,” Glover said. About $36.7 billion is spent on public mental health every year in the U.S., serving 6.8 million people annually. But because of decreased funding in most states, the mental health system nationwide has seen $3.4 billion in cuts since 2009, according to the national State Mental Health Association. Reducing administrative costs is the top move that states do when cutting mental health spending, followed by hiring freezes and reducing community providers, the State Mental Health Association found. About 45 percent of states making cuts closed state hospital units or
wards, according to a 2010 study by the State Mental Health Association. In the past two years, 3,930 state psychiatric hospital beds have been eliminated. That’s more than 8 percent of the total number in the nation. Those patients are usually put into community-based care. But too often, funding cuts are made in community care. It’s a bad time to be cutting mental health dollars, Glover said. “One of the worst times to be taking cuts like this is when the economy is bad and our services are needed the most,” he said. Too often, an economic recession corresponds with increased levels of joblessness, home foreclosures, depression, violence and suicide attempts, Glover said. On average, most states spend about 75 percent of their mental health dollars on community-based care and 25 percent on state-run psychiatric hospitals. Alabama, by contrast, spends about 50 percent of its mental health funding on state hospitals. That will change as the hospitals are closed, a move an-
nounced Wednesday by the Alaba ma Depa r t ment of Ment a l Health. Some states, like Rhode Island, have closed all of their state-run hospitals. That doesn’t mean there are no acute-care, short-term beds for the mentally ill. Often, these beds are offered through private contracts, sometimes in private facilities or even in county hospitals. “You just can’t go without any beds at all,” Glover said. Providing psychiatric beds in the community takes planning to ensure there are appropriate supports available, he added, with consideration of an individual’s specific needs. That takes time and good leadership. “These are not easy things, to close hospitals,” Glover said. “It takes a while, with long-term planning. You cannot close a hospital and open new community programs without some overlap funding. “It is a major task.” Reach Lydia Seabol Avant at 205722- 0222 or lydia.seabolavant@ tuscaloosanews.com.
Lawmakers work to iron out details of payroll tax cut By Andrew Taylor
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON | Calling quits to a bruising election-year fi ght, negotiators on Capitol Hill worked into Wednesday night trying to iron out fi nal details of an agreement to extend a cut in the payroll taxes paid by most Americans. The legislation also would renew jobless benefits for millions more. The $150 billion measure taking shape represents a tactical retreat for Republicans, who are generally unenthusiastic about the legislation but eager to move beyond the issue. With campaign season starting, they don’t want President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress to be able to claim the GOP was standing in the way of a middle-class tax cut. Lawmakers hoped to officially unveil the measure Wednesday night so it could be voted on Friday in the House
and then quickly pass the Senate. It would represent a rare burst of bipartisanship in a bitterly divided Congress. But aides said a key Democratic negotiator, Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, had yet to agree to the measure because of a provision requiring federal workers to contribute more to their pensions. The provision was included to help pay for or “offset” extending unemployment benefits. It was unclear whether the issue would be resolved Wednesday night. “ They are still talking,” Cardin spokeswoman Sue Walitsky said. “Sen. Cardin continues to work with his colleagues to ensure the fairness of the offsets.” The legislation would continue a 2 percentage point cut in the Social SeTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS curity payroll tax, renew jobless benefits averaging about $300 a week for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, accompanied by felpeople languishing for long periods on low GOP leaders, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in SEE TAX | 4A Washington on Wednesday.
By Jason Morton Staff Writer
TUSCALOOSA | At least three proposed low-income housing programs will likely benefit from a tax credit because of the devastation of the April tornadoes. But City Hall hopes the Alabama Housing Finance Authority lifts its three -project cap for Tuscaloosa County and elects to approve all four of the projects that it has recommended. “We have asked the Legislature to lift the cap,” said Mayor Walt Maddox, “but we don’t know if that will be possible this session.” The federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit was established by the Tax Reform Act of 1986. The act grants incentives to private equity fi rms that invest in developing affordable housing for low-income residents. The program allows qualified projects to gain developmental capital while granting tax breaks to the fi nancial institutions — usually banks — that fund them. In Alabama, the program is administered by the Alabama Housing Finance Authority, which usually approves only one project per county each year for tax-credit funding. This year, it has agreed to approve up to three to Jefferson and Tuscaloosa counties because of the devastation from the April tornadoes. Competition for those federal tax credits is fi erce. Offi cials said the use of local dollars will help attain crucial points to improve the likelihood that the applications will be approved. The City Council voted Feb. 7 to use a portion of its annual HOME Program allotment from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to assist one of the projects and proceeds from last month’s one-time appropriation of $16.6 million from HUD for disaster relief to assist the other three. “We know that housing is such a great need, and we saw a way to recover over 220 homes for residents who are in need of homes right now,” said Robin Edgeworth, co-commander of the city’s Incident Command team, which is overseeing City Hall’s response to the April tornadoes. “We thought the proposals that they gave to us looked very sound.” The four projects (and the city’s contribution) are: ■ Phase II of the Rosedale Court rebuilding project ($1.29 million). The city’s contribution will assist the Tuscaloosa Housing Authority’s efforts in securing $13 million to construct 86 units Rosedale’s Phase II to build ■ A mix of 75 new rentals, for sale and Habitat for Humanity homes in a proposed East Tuscaloosa housing development ($750,000). The development, planned for a site on Crescent Ridge Road near Sixth Street, is a combination of efforts by Community Service Programs of West Alabama, Habitat for Humanity and Hollyhand Realty. SEE HUD | 4A
Proposed projects V.A. Hospital Crescent $210,000 Ridge
Cresce n t R i d ge Rd. Rd
State officials plan sweeping mental health cutbacks
$750,000
Univers i ty
10th Ave.
FOUR FACILITIES TO CLOSE
Tax credit to benefit housing for needy
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15th St.
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COUNTERFEIT MEDICATION United States investigates discovery of fake cancer drug Avastin sold to at least 19 doctors and clinics, including 16 sites in California, Texas and Chicago. | 3A
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Rosedale Courts Phase II
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Cottondale Exit
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STAFF GRAPHIC | ANTHONY BRATINA