Over two hundred mental health consumers, workers, state employees and other stakeholders gathered in the South Hills on Friday afternoon to discuss how people who had been discharged from Mayview State Hospital are doing. Among the speakers were workers from the Department of Public Welfare and former Mayview patients.
Mayview State Hospital closed last December. It had been open for 150 years. During the closing process, 244 people were discharged. According to Allegheny Health Choices, the group that has been tracking the people, they are, for the most part doing well. Since discharge, 69 of them have had additional psychiatric hospitalizations, 24 have been jailed and 10 have died of various causes. Most are living in the community in assisted living situations.
Joan Erney, Deputy Secretary for the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services in the Department of Public Welfare said they hope to have all of the state hospitals closed within a decade.
Friday, December 18, 2009
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