Staff writer
News of nearby Mayview State Hospital's closing at the end of 2008 disappointed Washington County officials Wednesday, but there was little hope that the state would reverse its decision.
Tim Kimmel, Washington County director of human services, delivered the news late morning that the state Department of Public Welfare plans to shut down Mayview in South Fayette Township, Allegheny County.
President Judge Debbie O'Dell Seneca, administrative judge for Mental Health-Mental Retardation, said, "We're very concerned in the mental health field here in Washington County of the effects it's going to have.
"Some of the most serious cases in mental health in Washington County are at Mayview, and, of course, there's the forensics department over there that assists the court on the criminal side.
"I personally am very concerned. My MH-MR hearing officer is very concerned, because they don't know where they're going to put these people. We have not been made aware of what the alternatives will be and certainly, the people I sign orders for shouldn't be out on the streets."
Jan Taper, Washington County MH-MR director, said the county averages about a dozen civil commitments to Mayview each year. The stays, O'Dell Seneca said, might last six months.
Use of the forensic unit is done by orders that are signed by any judge seeking an evaluation of a defendant, so the county MH-MR department does not keep statistics on the number of people facing criminal charges sent to Mayview.
On Thursday, the state plans to request consolidation and privatization of forensic services. The state will be gathering information to determine the efficiency of creating two privately run, regionally based forensic facilities, one in Norristown, near Philadelphia, and the other on the grounds of Torrance State Hospital, Westmoreland County.
The resident population at similar state facilities, including the former Western Center in Cecil Township, Washington County, has dropped by 60 percent, from almost 5,000 in the mid-1990s to the current 1,927.
Western Center, which housed the mentally challenged, closed in 2000, and most of the residents went to live in group homes.
Just a few months ago, Commissioner Diana L. Irey asked then-county MH-MR director Bob Harms for an update on Mayview's status. At the time, it did not seem that the state was going to close the forensic unit.
"The handwriting has been on the wall," said Commission Co-Chairman Larry Maggi. After being contacted by employees who feared for the loss of the jobs, the board "sent some letters to the state about a year ago. We saw this coming and we couldn't do anything about it.
"It's going to affect us monetarily," he said "We'll have to transport (people) a lot further than we do now."
According to Mayview's Web site, a little more than 500 people work at the 335-acre campus, which serves 225 individuals from Washington, Greene, Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties. Its current operating budget, according to the state, is $63 million.
"I have serious concern about that," said Commission Co-Chairman Bracken Burns of the proposed closing. "I was not fond of the closing of Western Center, and I'm not really fond of the closing of Mayview."
While Burns said he actively supports the rights of the mentally handicapped to remain in the community, "I also recognize there are some individuals who are so severely mentally handicapped that they are not safe members of that community."
According to the institution's Web site, the City of Pittsburgh built Mayview in 1897 as a home for the poor. The state took over its operation in 1941. It had its largest number of residents - 3,785 - in 1967.
The state closed the hospital's unit for the mentally challenged in 2001.
Mayview Road cuts through the hilly campus on the banks of Chartiers Creek. State institutions once had their own farms, and Upper St. Clair Township and school district have developed that adjacent acreage for recreation and environmental education. At least one older, red-brick building on the campus was recently demolished.