Mental health reforms require safeguards

VIRGINIA’S leaders have been talking about moving mentally disabled people out of institutions and into community-based care for decades. Only in recent years has there been modest but measurable progress.

Gov. Tim Kaine is heading in the right direction this year with a plan to close the Southeastern Virginia Training Center in Chesapeake, but he must be careful to avoid excessive speed.

Faced with a $2.9 billion budget shortfall, Kaine has been forced to cut into education, health care and mental health programs. Closure of the Chesapeake center could save the state more than $8 million a year. If done properly, the change could improve the lives of the 165 people who live there by placing them in smaller homes closer to their families.

But Kaine’s plan to close the center by the end of June appears to be impractical, and he must quickly present legislators with a detailed explanation on how and where he will relocate each resident.

James Reinhard, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, told legislators last week he plans to obtain a loan from the state treasurer’s office to pay for the transition. He’ll pay it back when the 100-acre property is sold.

But there are real questions about how quickly new homes can be found or opened. Kathy Drumwright, deputy director of the Virginia Beach Department of Human Services, reported this week that the city has six group homes and three intermediate-care facilities. All of them are full. There are 316 people on waiting lists for care, 99 of them deemed urgent.

Despite the exceedingly partisan tone of this year’s General Assembly session, legislators in both parties have properly expressed deep concerns about the transition process without turning the matter into a political attack. They have acknowledged that Kaine is reacting to difficult challenges, but they have also made it clear they will reject any plan without proper safeguards for their most fragile constituents.

Del. Phil Hamilton, a Newport News Republican and longtime advocate for mental health reform, promised to make decisions based solely on the quality of care, not cost savings.

“This legislator is not doing any of this with the idea of saving anything,” he said.

Kaine and legislators are right to look for opportunities for mental health reform even in the darkest budget years. But if hasty plans result in residents simply being switched from one institution to another one farther from their families, then that opportunity will have been badly bungled.