“Our concern was not with how the companies manage or operate their business, but with the service that the companies offer. We believe that profiting from incarceration is contrary to Church values."
Link To National Prison Divestment Campaign
Last night, in a 3-2 vote, the Senate’s Health Committee rolled back the number of acute mental health beds at a new State Hospital from 25 to 16 beds. The senators did so after hearing the same testimony as House members who approved 25 beds. The 16-bed proposal now moves to several other Senate committees before possibly ending up on the Senate floor and then in conference committee. VSEA is hopeful the number can be raised again somewhere in the upcoming process.
Health Committee Senators voting to reduce beds from 25 to 16:
Claire Ayer (D-Addison)
Hinda Miller (D-Chittenden)
Kevin Mullin (R-Rutland)
Health Committee Senators voting to keep beds at 25:
Anthony Pollina (D-Washington)
Sally Fox (D-Chittenden)
VSEA thanks Senators Pollina and Fox for their leadership!
The Genesis Nursing Home is sitting empty in Morrisville. A recent proposal was made to use the facility as an interim State Hospital while a new 25-bed facility is constructed in central VT (plan still subject to change). The Morrisville location will provide temporary employment for displaced VSH caregivers while a new State facility is built. Without the Morrisville option, there are no other real options on the table, outside of allowing VT’s entire mental health system to be privatized–at least until a new hospital is built.
VSEA members (especially those living in Lamoille County) can help more than 200 displaced VSH state employees by writing a letter/note with your support for the Morrisville option to the Morrisville newspaper (edit@newsandcitizen.com) or to a member of the Lamoille Community Connections Board or a Morrisville Selectboard member . Thanks in advance for your help!
[Sec’y of the Admin] Spaulding said not having at least one state-run acute care hospital to replace the flooded-out 54-bed Vermont State Hospital was a very bad idea, declaring that ‘to completely outsource to third-party vendors is very risky.’"
Scary Reality: At same time House committees are hearing from private hospital representatives that 16 beds in northern VT is not enough, Senate is considering rolling back the House’s 25-bed language to just 16.
[VSEA’s Conor] Casey added, “If this proposal were to go through, Vermont would have the distinction of being the only state with a completely privatized mental health system."