Mansfield Selectmen and Rep. Barrows Say Delay Taunton State Hospital Closing

State Rep. Jay Barrows and Taunton State Hospital Nurse Karen McLaughlin came to the Mansfield Selectmen on Wednesday to ask for their support to oppose the shut down of the Taunton State Hospital.

Mansfield selectmen voted 5-0 to write a letter to the governor’s office asking that a decision on the hospital’s closing be put off until a comprehensive study can be put together to assess the impact the closing would have on the eastern region of Massachusetts.

The biggest issue on which that this bi partisan movement in Massachusetts is gaining ground is the belief that the closing would have no cost savings.

“This clearly is an attempt to centralize services out in Worcester,” Barrows said.

The pair also said that mental health patients take up more space in emergency rooms and need to be housed. McLaughlin said that in some cases they can be housed in hospital emergency rooms for weeks, receiving no treatment, before a placement can be found in an appropriate hospital.

The measure would move the patients to the newly constructed Worcester State Hospital this summer. Gov. Deval Patrick stated that the measure would offer all employees jobs at the new facility. Barrows said that both patients and employees in his district and in Mansfield would be moved or offered employment there.

Barrows and McLaughlin said that the Taunton State Hospital is the only facility of its kind in the area, and would greatly affect an area going out as far as Cape Cod. Since there are no bus services or direct trains to the Worcester area, (the closest train going to Worcester being in Providence) family members of patients would be hard pressed to visit their loved ones.

McLaughlin added that family support is crucial to recovery in many circumstances.

“One of the big things in recovery with people struggling with mental illness is the support of their family and loved ones,” she said. “It would make it a big hardship on a lot of these familys for the ones that have to travel to Worcester.”

Employees would also not be inclined to move, as residents of the district the commuting costs would make the trip difficult if they did not relocate to the Worcester area.

McLaughlin said that this is a part of a bigger picture in Massachusetts, citing that the state has cut mental health spending by 8.1 percent from 2009 to 2012, the largest cut in the New England area.

“Out of the six New England states, four had increases,” she said. “We had the largest decrease, the only other one that had a decrease I believe was New Hampshire, which had a 1.3 percent [decrease]

McLaughlin added that cutting mental health spending has other harms to the entire community as well.

“We’re seeing in our jails 41 percent of our inmates struggle with mental health issues,” she said.