State board votes to close Singer
By: Marty Kasper
Updated: September 12, 2012
Singer Mental Health Center will stop admitting people on October 1st,
and the state hopes to have the facility completely closed by the end of next
month.
Money will be provided to
expand in-patient psychiatric services and intensive mental health crisis
services throughout the community
"Is a wonderful opportunity to improve that
system of care, and we believe that we are going to have a better system of
care for people that struggle in a psychiatric crisis," said president and
CEO of Rosecrance Philip Eaton.
But the vote now means Singer patients and their
families will have to find new place to go for services, and it also means many
workers at Singer will soon be without a job.
It's a move local AFSCME
representatives say isn't good for the greater
"The most violent, mentally ill people that are
the most desperate, the most mentally ill people can be taken in by these
community organizations, I think they're willing to take the states money and
they've agreed to do that," said AFSCME spokesperson Richard Berg. "But they're not going to be able to take care
of these patients."
