NEWS, COMMENTARY, AND ARTS BY PSYCHIATRIC SURVIVORS, MENTAL HEALTH PEERS, AND OUR FAMILIES
VOL. XXXIII NO. 1
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FROM THE HILLS OF VERMONT
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SINCE 1985
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SUMMER 2018
New Psych Hospital Proposed
MONTPELIER – The legislature agreed this spring with the Agency of Human Service’s assertion that the state has an urgent need to build more psychiatric facilities, but it rejected a plan to build them primarily in prisons. Instead, it put its support behind a proposal by the University of Vermont Health Network to construct a new psychiatric wing at the Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin. It approved an expedited planning process, but the facility is still three to four years away, hospital officials said. Two bills addressing the plans were signed by Governor Phil Scott in May. That new hospital wing – of undefined size – could also end up replacing the adjacent 25bed Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital. Under the proposal, the VPCH facility would convert to a 16-bed permanent expansion of the exist-
ing temporary seven-bed secure residence in Middlesex. The legislature directed the University of Vermont Health Network to consult with the Agency of Human Services “in identifying the appropriate number and type of additional inpatient psychiatric beds needed in the state.” “Arriving at that number will require considerable discussion,” noted Robert Pierattini, MD, the chair of psychiatry at UVM, in testimony to the Green Mountain Care Board, which oversees hospital budgets and construction. As an interim measure, the legislature also approved $5.5 million in construction funds for renovations to create a temporary 12-bed additional unit at the Brattleboro Retreat. The new proposal emerged after the legislature refused to approve funds requested in the governor’s capital budget to build a 12-bed tem-
porary unit in the Northwest State Correctional Facility near St. Albans or to begin planning for a 20-bed forensic hospital within a 200-bed replacement prison on those grounds. The House Committee on Health Care wrote in a memorandum in February that it opposed “the significant policy shift involved in separating patients based exclusively on legal status rather than clinical presentation” that would occur if a forensic, prison-based hospital were created for patients entering through criminal court referrals. UVM Proposal At the same time, the UVM Health Network was appearing before the Green Mountain Care Board to address what to do with $21 million in unapproved revenue from increases in services last year. UVM proposed using that money to (Continued on page 7
Survivor Exposes Police Violence By ANNE DONAHUE Counterpoint
and another officer grabbed Crystal Cheney from her recliner in her apartment and threw her to BRATTLEBORO – “People who suffer from the floor to handcuff her last summer. mental health issues can fluctuate in their moods “Fearing … that she may become violent rapidly and they can become violent without again, Officer [David] Cerreto and I performed warning.” Those were the words of police officer an arm bar takedown on Cheney,” he wrote in William Penniman to justify his actions when he his report. He said they acted because “she kept stalling” after having agreed to go to the hospital to be checked out for a self-inflicted stab wound. “Cheney was sitting in her chair at this time,” Penniman wrote. According to AJ Ruben, supervising attorney with Disability Rights Vermont, the police violated Cheney’s rights by failing to get a warrant to take her from her home, since there was no emergency at the time. Three different police officers’ reports aligned with Cheney’s description of the events. However, a later incident – which she said led to her suffering permanent arm and shoulder damage – was not recorded. One of the officers shoved her to the floor from behind at PULLED FROM HER CHAIR ─ Crystal Cheney demostrates where police Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, grabbed her to drag her off her recliner in her apartment last summer. she said. Cheney said the incident (Counterpoint Photo: Anne Donahue) occurred when she was being
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Advocate Brings Voice to Legislative Committee
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The Arts
cooperative and just steps away from being in a seclusion room. Brattleboro Police Chief Michael Fitzgerald disagreed that a warrant was required under the circumstances and said that “officers should always err on the side of caution” in taking a person to the emergency room for an assessment when safety is at risk. As far as the unrecorded push at the hospital, Fitzgerald told Counterpoint that Cheney should be encouraged to make a formal complaint so that it can be fully investigated.
'I'm Sure I’m Not the Only One'
Cheney said she decided to speak publicly in the hope that recognition of police violence and its impact on people who have been labelled with mental illness will lead to change. “I want people to be able to be helped by this,” Cheney said. “I’m sure I’m not the only one. I hope people will come out and speak and change things.” “We’re not in a good space” when a crisis is unfolding, she said. “We already feel bad about ourselves” and don’t need to be treated with violence. Cheney said she “didn’t need a pack of wolves” jumping on her just because she was (Continued on page 5)
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Commentary