ALLENTOWN Despite deep concerns over the loss of nearly 400 local jobs and the treatment of 175 mentally ill patients, local and state officials are hopeful the closing of the Allentown State Hospital will open new opportunities.
Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of Public Welfare Harriet Dichter announced the shuttering of the nearly 100-year-old institution on Thursday.
The announcement confirms months of rumors about the fate of the hospital that sparked employee rallies and a public outcry from some local lawmakers.
The hospital, perched on a 217-acre campus off Hanover Avenue, will remain open until Dec. 31, but most patients are expected to be transferred by the end of July, said Welfare spokeswoman Stacey Witalec.
Some transfers will go to the Wernersville State Hospital in Berks County, but many will integrate into the community by moving into group homes, public housing and with family, Witalec said.
Integrating the mentally ill into the community has been a goal for the Department of Public Welfare, and there is evidence that they thrive in such a setting, she said.
Hundreds of jobs lost
As for the hospital's 379 employees, about 85 will go on to work at Wernersville, but the rest will have to find work elsewhere come year's end, said Mike Baker, chairman of Chapter 13 of the Local 688 Service Employees International Union, which represents hospital employees.
Baker said the state has indicated it will try to place hospital employees not bound for Wernersville, but there are no guarantees.
He said besides the future of employees, the union's also concerned about the future of patients, citing that the region does not have enough facilities such as group homes for the mentally ill to meet the demand that will be created by the hospital's closing.
And even if there were an adequate number of group homes, Baker said he questions whether patients would receive care comparable to that offered by the hospital.
Employee pay and benefits at such group homes are generally lower than what is offered by the state, he said. This causes a transient workforce at the group homes, something that's never been an issue at the hospital, he said.
Mayor sees silver lining
SEIU Local 688 President Kathy Jellison said any time a state hospital closes, there will be hardships to patients and their families, but the Allentown State Hospital, which first opened in 1912 and peaked with 2,107 patients in 1954, was special to a lot of people.
"This was a very good facility that took excellent care of its patients," she said.
Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski said the hospital's closing presents a number of concerns because of the lost jobs and the challenge of finding care for the patients but it could also present opportunities for the city and surrounding community.
The state plans to work with the city on the disposition of the property, he said, adding that it will go back on the tax rolls after the hospital closes.
"We don't have a lot of property left in Allentown so this does open up some significant development opportunities," the mayor said, "We're going to look for the silver lining in this as much as we can."
Reichley criticizes closing
Pawlowski said he understands that state's fiscal constraints in recent years and, like many other officials, believed the hospital's closing was something that someday was going to happen.
But state Rep. Doug Reichley, R-Berks/Lehigh, said lawmakers and the community should have been consulted before such a decision was made.
"I am very disappointed the department made this decision unilaterally," Reichley said in a prepared statement. "It's obvious that this decision to close the facility was pre-set. It was more based on (department) budgetary issues than on patient care considerations."
As for the employees, they plan a rally to protest the hospital's closing from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. Tuesday at the hospital's entrance off Hanover Avenue.
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