Governor takes aim at state hospital

Early this year, Gov. Brownback published his 2012 budget and what is interesting about this particular budget is not what was included in it, but what wasn't -- funding for the Kansas Neurological Institute (KNI) in Topeka.

KNI was established in 1960 to house persons with developmental disabilities as part of the state institution network that included Parsons, Winfield and Norton.

Since that time, the state hospitals in Norton (1989) and Winfield (1998) have closed in part due to recent trends toward community support and services, and to save money.

Since the governor's budget was published, the committee overseeing hospital closure has put a hold on the idea of closing it until more information is available. The question people ask me is, are state hospitals a thing of the past or do they have their purposes?

The answer to that question is quite difficult. First, advocates for people with disabilities will argue that state hospitals are barbaric and they should all be closed. They were created at a time when people with disabilities were hidden away from society to linger in an institutionalized setting.

Advocates would also argue that they would have a better quality of life living in the community.

We currently serve six people who once resided at KNI and all six are doing well.

Parents or guardians of people living at KNI will tell you that their loved one cannot receive the type of care they need with community services. They are too fragile and need specialized care that only a hospital can provide. They will also say that uprooting them from their current setting would be traumatic.

Some of them have lived in KNI for over 30 years. As always, there are two sides to every story, and in this case, both sides would argue they are right. What the state must do is weigh what is in the best interest of the person in the hospital versus the special interest groups on both sides of the issue.

If the state decides on closure, then it must be done correctly and the needs of the person served must be taken into consideration; we have to take into account the lessons learned from the closure of Norton and Winfield, not all of which were good.

The transition must be slow; people cannot be pushed into community settings until services and plans are in place. Those individuals at KNI who require 24/7 skilled nursing care and whose needs cannot be met in the community must be given the option to transfer to a skilled nursing facility. The state should also recognize the impact on KNI employees and address the issues they will be facing. Finding employment in our current economy will be difficult and all resources at the states disposal should be utilized.

Some state hospitals do serve a purpose beyond the typical service model. Parsons State Hospital and Training Center (PSHTC) in Parsons provides several services utilized by Tri-Valley and other agencies statewide.

The Dual Diagnosis Treatment and Training program is one example. This outreach program is used when we have hit a dead end in dealing with a behavioral issue. The outreach team will come in observe, collect data, meet with us, make recommendations and for the most part they have been very successful.

In addition to this program, they also provide a Sexual Offender Treatment Program for persons who have been dually diagnosed, Project Alternative for students in special education, a child care center and they also house the KU Life Span Institute, which conducts research for the developmental disability field. If the decision is made to close KNI, the outreach programs provided by the state hospitals must remain a resource for community service providers to utilize during a crisis.

Editor's Note: Tim Cunningham is the executive director of Tri-Valley Developmental Services.