Advocates decry cuts at Vt. State Hospital
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By DANIEL BARLOW VERMONT PRESS BUREAU - Published: November 13, 2009
MONTPELIER — When Joshua Malcolm Sawyer was a patient at the Vermont State Hospital, the canteen was sometimes the only thing that gave him hope of a more normal life.
But now that canteen – a cafeteria at the state complex in Waterbury that is often used by patients and staff at the State Hospital – is on the chopping block due to state budget cuts. The canteen, which has been open for nearly four decades, will close next month.
"It was the one place where I really felt all right," Sawyer said at a Statehouse press conference Friday organized by mental health advocates and organizations. "Being there gave me hope that one day I might return to the real world."
Gov. James Douglas' administration announced last month that it would close the canteen in early December as part of its latest round of budget cuts. Officials claim the closing is expected to save the state $150,000 next year, although advocates dispute that number, saying revenue from the canteen usually covered most of its costs.
Jack McCullough, a Montpelier attorney who broke the story of the canteen closing on the Beyond Vermont State Hospital blog last month, said most patients at the facility, which is home to people with severe cases of mental illness, spend their days in locked wards.
Visiting the canteen, where patients can buy lunch or snacks, watch television and socialize, is a normalizing environment for people who spend their days surrounded by doctors and medications, McCullough said.
"The canteen is not a luxury," he said. "It is an essential part of the therapeutic services provided at the Vermont State Hospital."
Michael Hartman, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Mental Health, said closing the canteen was not an easy decision to come to, and Friday's protests and the outcry from advocates since the news was revealed last month have not changed his mind.
"The choice we were faced with is to either reduce the number of staff at the State Hospital or to eliminate the canteen," Hartman said. "Ultimately, we decided to close the canteen, which is only used by about half the patients there."
Hartman said he hopes talks with advocates can lead to some sort of replacement for the canteen that provides the same "peer-supported environment" without the costs of running a cafeteria.
But protestors were not swayed by that argument. About two dozen people gathered outside of the Statehouse with signs. One protester wore a giant Douglas mask and an oversized pair of scissors.
Peter Bartlett, a psychiatric technician at the State Hospital, accused the Douglas administration of "budget hysteria" to justify cuts to state government. He said workers and patients at the Waterbury facility are ready to fight back.
"It makes zero sense to close the canteen," he said. "In this case, they are going to face a real fight."
Curtis Sinclair, a former State Hospital patient who once managed the canteen, said that it usually made its money back through sales each year. Revenue dropped off in the last two years, he said, but that the canteen, with some adjustment, could begin breaking even or earning a profit again soon.
Sinclair said working at the canteen was instrumental in his rehabilitation while in Waterbury.
"This is the last place they have," he said, referring to closings in recent years of the facility's gym and library. "When you take this, they have nothing."
Ken Libertoff, executive director of the Vermont Association for Mental Health, said the canteen has value at the State Hospital that is both physical and symbolic. He urged Douglas to reconsider the move.
"This is simply bad policy," he said.
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