TRENTON — In a rebuke to the Christie administration’s proposal to close the Garrett W. Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital in Glen Gardner, an Assembly committee today voted to give the Legislature the authority to block the demise of any state institution serving disabled patients. The Assembly Human Services Committee voted 6-2 with one abstention to approve a bill (A2880) requiring...
Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital in Glen Gardner in this 2009 file photo.TRENTON — In a rebuke to the Christie administration’s proposal to close the Garrett W. Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital in Glen Gardner, an Assembly committee today voted to give the Legislature the authority to block the demise of any state institution serving disabled patients.
The Assembly Human Services Committee voted 6-2 with one abstention to approve a bill (A2880) requiring state Human Services officials to provide information allowing lawmakers "to review and consider the reasons for the decision and its impact on residents and employees of the facility," if there are more than 100 full-time workers. If the Legislature disagrees with any proposed closing, it could void the governor’s decision.
Committee Chairwoman and bill sponsor Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) said the intent is to force the administration to share the information it uses to make decisions about facilities and the vulnerable people who live in them.
Huttle said a recent report analyzing the state’s cost-cutting decision to close Hagedorn next year and transfer patients into community housing revealed nothing to contradict her belief the hospital serving mostly senior citizens "is a wonderful jewel."
"Every person suffering from mental illness or a developmental disability has a unique set of circumstances. We cannot employ a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to providing the services they need," Huttle said.
But in an odd twist, many of the same families and disability advocates who support keeping Hagedorn open urged the committee to vote against the bill blocking future closures because they said in most cases, institutions are bad places to live.
The state has relocated about 600 former psychiatric patients into smaller group housing over five years to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court decision and a separate lawsuit demanding less reliance on institutional care.
"We believe that this bill creates an additional obstacle to institutional closure and flies in the face of decades of civil rights advocacy on behalf of people with developmental disabilities," said Tom Baffuto, executive director of the Arc of New Jersey, which advocates for people with developmental disabilities.
"They need to close every single institution in New Jersey," said Todd Emmons of Voorhees, a former resident of two developmental centers who is much happier in a group home.
Defenders of developmental center favor the bill. Joanne St. Amand of Cranford said her sister has lived at the Woodbridge Developmental Center for about 35 years and vowed to "fight to the death any effort to change that. This is her home."
Jenelle Blackmon of Communications Workers of America Local 1040, representing 5,000 institution employees, defended the care they provide.
"They become part of our family," she said.