News & Events

Worceter Telegram Publishes Ediitorial Calling for State to Save Taunton State Hospital and the Glavin Center

 

The editorial board of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette today published an editorial urging state legislators to save Taunton State Hospital and the Glavin Regional Center to provide much needed care to our state’s vulnerable residents living with developmental disabilities and acute mental illness.  Special thanks go to the Coalition of Families and Advocates, who met with the editorial board and made a strong case for our state to show compassion for those most in need of our care. 
 
 
 
Compassion and the State
Glavin, Taunton needed
                      
The disagreement over the closing of Taunton State Hospital and the effort to reverse closure of the Glavin Regional Center in Shrewsbury might seem to matter to only a few.

But such facilities ably serve some of our most needy individuals. They are staffed with gifted professionals. Most especially, they are places where hope pours in daily from family members and others who cherish their special someone who lives there.

No place that serves people with mental retardation or other serious developmental difficulties is or can possibly be perfect. But despite the holdover label of “institutionalized,” these facilities are alive with love.

Lawmakers should work to override Gov. Patrick’s Sunday veto of $5.1 million to keep Taunton open. And, in the case of Glavin, the Massachusetts Coalition of Families and Advocates Inc. is right to fight to keep the remaining 28 residents of the 63-bed center in their home. State officials intend for all Glavin’s residents to relocate by June 30.

Glavin, which opened 37 years ago, has enjoyed a strong reputation for being a good home and a good neighbor.

During a recent meeting with the Telegram & Gazette’s editorial board, the families of some residents joined other knowledgeable spokesmen in attesting to the appropriateness and cost-effectiveness of the care the Glavin Center provides.

Mr. Patrick envisions residents of Glavin and Taunton being served in group homes. For some, group homes work. For these residents, they do not. The reality is that development disability will never adapt to a one-size-fits-all solution. Medium and larger facilities where patients are more closely guarded have a vital role.

The administration argues that group homes will save money, but the money — which amounts to a tiny fraction of the state budget — is not the chief concern.

Rather, that must be the lives of needy individuals and the families who cherish them. The challenge is how to provide appropriate care, case by case. And the answer is that the Glavin Center and Taunton State Hospital are facilities that meet a need that will always exist, conferring dignity, safety and love on the most developmentally needy among us.

If these options cost a bit more than state officials, auditors, and some taxpayers would like, well, they are exactly what our tax dollars should be used for.

Massachusetts claims to be a caring state, a model for the health, education and welfare of its citizens. This is a moment for Mr. Patrick and lawmakers to prove that. Keep Glavin, Taunton and other such places open — welcoming places that work to care for those individuals and their families who need their services so desperately.

 
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