ADVOCACY NEWS FROM NAMI NEW JERSEY:
1. PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL HOSTS FEWER PATIENTS
2. STATE PROBES ACTIONS PRIOR TO ANCORA ASSAULT
3. MOVE PATIENTS OUT OF ANCORA
4. PATIENTS MOVE INTO NEW GREYSTONE PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL
5. JUDGE UPHOLDS FIRING OF GREYSTONE AIDE
6. EARLY WARNING SYSTEM FOR AILING HOSPITALS BECOMES LAW
7. STUDY SAYS: DISEASES AFFECT N.J. FINANCIALLY
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PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL HOSTS FEWER PATIENTS
Assaults still frequent at overcrowded Ancora
The patient population of New Jersey's most crowded public
psychiatric hospital shrank over the last year by moving
some to more suitable, less intensive treatment programs,
and discharging others when they were ready to leave, Human
Services officials said yesterday. Human Services Commissioner
Jennifer Velez released the report which details critical
incidents from 2005 to 2008. The report includes escapes,
assaults and deaths at all five state psychiatric hospitals
-- in keeping with statements in May that the hospital system
needed to be more accountable and "transparent."
Read the Star Ledger article:
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1218170147245220.xml&coll=1
Ancora Psychiatric Hospital Status Report:
http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/Press-2008/AO_Report.pdf
New data Dashboard give information on psychiatric hospitals:
http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/dmhs/data_dashboard.htm
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STATE PROBES ACTIONS PRIOR TO ANCORA ASSAULT
State investigators are questioning Ancora Psychiatric Hospital
staffers about whether enough action was taken to protect
a 42-year-old woman from a 220-pound male patient who announced
his plans to hurt her minutes before he punched her. Details
of events leading up to the attack emerged at the same time
state officials released new data Thursday, which they say
shows Ancora, based in Winslow, Camden County, is becoming
a safer place for mentally ill patients.
Read the Asbury Park Press article:
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080808/NEWS/808080517&referrer=
FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
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MOVE PATIENTS OUT OF ANCORA
The critical injuries suffered last week by an Ancora
Psychiatric Hospital patient provided yet another incident
in a series of crises for the state Department of Human
Services, demanding it has to find ways to get more of these
patients out of institutions. The patients involved should
not have been in Ancora, both had been cleared by the courts
for release. There was just no place for either person to
go. Patients with mental illnesses who are eligible to live
in residential-care facilities and possibly become productive
members of their communities are stuck far too long in terrible
and terrifying conditions. That added frustration only can
slow or reverse any progress they've made in healing.
Read the Asbury Park Press Editorial:
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080806/OPINION01/808060341/1029
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PATIENTS MOVE INTO NEW GREYSTONE PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL
State- of-the-art facility offers improved treatment
Patients have moved into the new Greystone Park Psychiatric
Hospital, a state-of-the-art facility designed to provide
improved, focused treatment to patients. The $200 million
hospital replaces five aging treatment buildings and a 131-year-old
administration building. It is a 450-bed facility in a single,
self-contained building that includes a treatment mall with
over 21 rooms for various activities and a large auditorium.
There are also on-site residential cottages that serve 60
additional patients transitioning to more independent, community
living.
Read the Department of human Services Press release:
http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/Press-2008/gpph_move_in.html
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JUDGE UPHOLDS FIRING OF GREYSTONE AIDE
Greystone: an administrative law judge has upheld the firing
of an aide at Greystone Park psychiatric hospital for patient
abuse, saying the use of a restraint chair and choke hold
on a patient in a new year's day 2007 incident violated
hospital rules.
Read more:
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/morris/index.ssf?/base/news-4/121747905440810.xml&coll=1
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EARLY WARNING SYSTEM FOR AILING HOSPITALS BECOMES LAW
Corzine signs four-bill package aiming for improvements
in health care
Hospitals suffering financial trouble would come to the
attention of authorities much sooner under a bill signed
by Gov. Jon Corzine. The bill is part of a larger health
reform package that also seeks to protect the uninsured
and increase accountability in hospital management. Corzine
also signed a bill, A2607/S1794, requiring each acute-care
and state psychiatric hospital to annually conduct a public
meeting for the community it serves.
Read the Star Ledger story:
http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1218256531280700.xml&coll=1
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STUDY SAYS: DISEASES AFFECT N.J. FINANCIALLY
Seven chronic diseases -- mental illness, cancer, diabetes,
hypertension, stroke, heart disease and pulmonary conditions
-- have a total impact on New Jersey's economy of nearly
$39 billion annually according to "An Unhealthy America:
The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease," a study recently
released by the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute."
By investing in good health, we can add billions of dollars
in economic growth in the coming decades," said Ross
DeVol, Director of Health Economics and Regional Economics
at the Milken Institute and principal author of the report.
See the Courier Post article:
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080808/BUSINESS01/808080330/
1003/BUSINESS
Read the full study:
http://www.njhcqi.org/documents/an-unhealthy-nj-7-29-08.pdf
