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BY KIM WETZEL
Medill News Service | Friday, April 08, 2005 | (No comments posted.)
CHICAGO | Cook County commissioners this week said any move by the state to close the Tinley Park Mental Health Center would leave mentally ill patients out in the cold and put a strain on county services.
At Wednesday's Cook County Board meeting, 6th District Commissioner Patricia Joan Murphy co-sponsored a resolution saying the closure would create a hardship for local mentally ill patients and their families.
Many of the facility's patients have no medical insurance, which makes it harder to find alternative health services, Murphy said.
The resolution passed unanimously.
"The hardship is going to be horrific in our communities," Murphy said, adding that the facility's Southwest Suburban patients will have to commute farther to the John J. Madden Mental Health Center in northwest Cook County.
"Some of these patients don't have cars and have to rely on others to take them to the hospital," Murphy said.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is considering closing the facility at 183rd Street and Harlem Avenue and selling its 213 acres of property to close budget gaps. The facility serves the South Side of Chicago and the south suburbs and offers both inpatient and outpatient services.
Although the facility is now scheduled to stay open through fiscal year 2006, the governor appointed a task force to look into whether the facility should remain open for fiscal year 2007 and beyond. The task force was appointed after a number of political officials and mental health advocate groups opposed the plan to close it.
Carl Hansen, 15th District commissioner, said he is concerned about the strain that closing the center would put on county services, such as health and public safety.
"You can't just release people out on the street," Hansen said.
Tom Green, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Human Services, said the commissioners' concerns are valid.
Still, Green said, if the center does close, it won't be until a plan is in place for patients to have somewhere else to go.
"The center will continue to be funded until we have a plan and the needs of the area have been met," Green said. "It's really not about closing a facility and eliminating any access to care. That's not what we're doing."
Green said many patients could be rerouted to the Madden facility, and also could utilize community mental health centers in Cook and Will counties.
"The trend in mental health care is community-based outpatient services," Green said.
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