I loved this article it offers some down to earth ideas on how to help folks transition from Mayview State Hospital into the community.  It was originally printed in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on February 25, 2008

The article can also be viewed on the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s website at …  http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_554085.html 

Mayview wants to ease patients’ transition
By Rick Stouffer TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, February 25, 2008

Something as simple as inviting someone to dinner can have a huge positive impact on a person who’s been released from a state mental health facility, Bob Fairchild said.”Sometimes the people on the ward may be the only family that person had, and so being without a family can be a major depressive,” Fairchild said Sunday morning at an adult education program at Bower Hill Community Church, Mt. Lebanon.

Fairchild, 38, who said he’s spent time in Pennsylvania’s mental health system in the central part of the state, was a surprise participant. He came to the Moffett Street church for an afternoon program, arriving early because of infrequent bus service from his North Hills apartment.

His comments gave a personal touch to remarks from Allegheny HealthChoices Inc. CEO Mary Fleming and Mary Jo Dickson, administrator of the Allegheny County Office of Behavioral Health. The two had been invited to present an update on the closing of Mayview State Hospital in South Fayette.

Slated to close by year’s end after 115 years of service, Mayview will be the third state mental hospital in Allegheny County to close in the past 25 years, following Dixmont in 1984, and Woodville in 1992. The closings follow nationwide judicial rulings against long-term hospital stays for the mentally ill, treatment and medication improvements and a general movement toward relocating patients in communities.”It’s important that people know what to do, know about mental illness,” Dickson said. “We have to plan for what’s happening with current patients at Mayview, but also plan for people who would use the hospital if it was there in the future.”

When the state announced in August that Mayview would close by the end of 2008, the hospital had about 225 patients, with about 60 patients discharged before the announcement.

“Today, we have 180 patients at Mayview, with about 150 from Allegheny County,” Dickson said. The hospital serves Allegheny, Beaver, Greene, Lawrence and Washington counties. The plan was to have the patient number down to 150 by June 30, but Fleming said that might not occur.

“One of the big problems we have in reintroducing these people back into communities is finding suitable, affordable housing,” Fleming said. Allegheny HealthChoices is a nonprofit organization hired by the five counties to oversee the five-county Mayview planning process.

Fleming said the reintroduction of most patients into a community setting has to be done correctly the first time, because “when you discharge a patient, that bed closes. You can’t take the person back and put them in that bed again,” she said.

Rick Stouffer can be reached at rstouffer@tribweb.com or 412-320-7853