Press Democrat article on the CLOSURE OF OAKCREST

[Karin Adams]

Psych unit closing in June
Date moved up from 2008; fewer patients, rising costs cited
By CAROL BENFELL THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Norton Center, Sonoma County's largest hospital for the mentally ill, will close its doors June 19, the county said Friday. Patients will be transferred to other facilities around the region until a new psychiatric unit can be opened. The Santa Rosa hospital's closure had been anticipated since March 2006. At that time, the county said it would shut down Norton in 2008 when its lease with Sutter Medical Center ran out. The county has now decided to stop accepting patients in June and close the hospital before July 1, the beginning of the 2007-08 fiscal year, said Art Ewart, mental health services director at the county Department of Health. The 30-bed center, once called Oakcrest, has been a fixture in Sonoma County health care for nearly 40 years. But the number of patients at the Chanate Road facility is dropping while the cost of providing their care is rising, Ewart said. "Poor third-party reimbursements from state and federal sources, an increased number of clients with no insurance and the increased cost of meeting mandatory staffing ratios have made the unit financially unsustainable," Ewart said. The county hopes to open a 16-bed inpatient facility to replace Norton within the next six months, Ewart said. He declined to discuss the details, except to say it will be a collaborative effort with other health care providers, and that bids are currently being accepted. When Norton closes, an 18-bed psychiatric unit at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital's Fulton Road campus will be the only place left in Sonoma County to house those who are considered a danger to themselves or others. Norton's closure comes after a spate of tragedies in recent weeks has renewed questions about Sonoma County's ability to serve and protect the mentally ill in its midst. Sebastopol teenager Jeremiah Chass, who appeared to be having a psychotic episode, was shot by police in March. Earlier this month, Jeanne Hoyt was killed by her paranoid schizophrenic son in Rohnert Park. Also this month, police used deadly force to subdue Richard DeSantis, a bipolar Santa Rosa man who was shooting up his home. "Closing Norton would not be our membership's choice," said Jennifer Hedgpeth, president of the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "It has been a safe place to bring a family member. They can have talk therapy and be stabilized on their medication and go home the better for it." Norton Center, once part of the former Community Hospital, is a locked unit, meaning patients are there involuntarily and cannot leave when they choose. Many of the hundreds of patients who pass through its doors each year are sent by the legal system or their families because they threatened suicide or homicide, are incompetent to stand trial or are gravely mentally disturbed. They stay for short periods, usually less than 30 days, until they can be released into the community or transferred to another care facility. But changing times and rising costs have sealed Norton's fate, Ewart said. The average number of patients at Norton has plummeted in the past five years, from 27 to 12, as more sophisticated outpatient services have become available, Ewart said. At the same time, the county is paying Sutter Medical Center millions of dollars a year to make up the difference between the costs of patient care and the reimbursement Sutter can obtain from insurers. Since 2003, the county has paid Sutter approximately $10 million for its losses and would pay out a projected $18 million if the center remained open through December 2008, Ewart said. The payouts have put a significant dent in county health's $144 million annual budget, he said. "These funds have come directly from (other) health care funds and have had a corrosive effect on other programs and the overall department budget," Ewart said. Norton will stop accepting patients some days before the scheduled June 19 close, and all current patients will be transferred to other hospitals before that date, he said. Those include Memorial Hospital's Fulton Road campus and St. Helena Hospital Center for Behavioral Health in St. Helena and Vallejo. The county has used these hospitals successfully in the past, Ewart said. "Sending clients to area hospitals is not new. Many clients have been hospitalized at these other hospitals over the past 30 years," Ewart said. The county will continue to operate without interruption its round-the-clock psychiatric emergency services program at Norton, he said. You can reach Staff Writer Carol Benfell at 521-5259 or carol.benfell@pressdemo crat.com <http://crat.com>.