V.A. psychiatric unit will close

Veterans groups decry end of acute program at Canandaigua

James Goodman
Staff writer

(October 21, 2006) — CANANDAIGUA — A unit in the Canandaigua Veterans Affairs Medical Center that serves patients with the most serious mental problems will close at the end of November.

Dan Ryan, a spokesman for the V.A., would only say that the closure of this unit could be connected with the opening of a new 22-bed psychiatric unit for patients with less serious psychological problems.

But an Oct. 11 memo from Sharlene Sacco, who manages behavioral services, to a union official at the medical center tells of a November closing date. The memo, obtained by the Democrat and Chronicle,says that phaseout of the unit will begin in November, with "closure of the program and reassignment of aligned staff by Nov. 30."

Ryan said that he has not seen the memo and that the closing date would come from high-ranking officials.

The decision to close that unit, Ryan said, was made in May 2004 by Anthony Principi, who was then V.A. secretary.

Currently, eight patients are in the acute psychiatric unit, which has a full-time staff of 16, Ryan said. None of the employees would be laid off.

Ken Moore, president of Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 20, said that, with so many veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress, the V.A. should not close the unit.

"We should be increasing services," said Moore, 54, a Vietnam veteran who lives in Hilton.

The acute unit is meant for vets who are in a crisis situation, such as being suicidal. Patients in this unit, Ryan said, are typically there for about 10 days.

Any patient in the unit when it closes would go to V.A. facilities in Buffalo and Syracuse, where Ryan said that V.A. hospitals are equipped to treat psychiatric patients who also need intensive medical services.

But it's unclear what will happen to local veterans in a mental crisis situation and in need of immediate attention.

"We will refer them, hopefully, to some place locally, just as a person who comes now with a medical crisis," Ryan said.

Having the V.A treat acute psychiatric patients in Buffalo and Syracuse is a bad idea for Rochester-area veterans, said Ellen Warren, vice president of development for the local Veterans Outreach Center.

"We need to keep people in their community so that we can work with them," Warren said.

She said that the importance of community-based treatment was underscored by the New York State Temporary Commission on Vietnam Veterans, in a report issued more than three decades ago.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Friday wrote Veterans Affairs Secretary James Nicholson, urging him to delay any decision on closing the acute psychiatric unit until a final plan for the V.A. in Canandaigua is completed.

Two weeks ago, officials announced that the V.A. medical center, which has an annual budget of about $80 million, would remain in Canandaigua and that a plan for revamping services would be done by the spring.

The new 22-bed unit at the V.A. Medical Center in Canandaigua is intended to help veterans who relapse in their psychological problems but are not in a crisis situation.

The hope, said Ryan, is that this unit as well as a new outpatient unit at the Canandaigua V.A. facility that opened in the summer would reduce the need for acute psychiatric care.

JGOODMAN@DemocratandChronicle.com