Mandeville, La. -- The Jindal administration has unveiled cuts to the state's Medicaid program, and one of the area's last mental health hospitals is among the cutbacks.
State-run Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville is expected to close its doors October 1, and more than 300 of its employees will be laid off.
The hospital has been a mainstay in mental health care since the early 1950's, and over the years with continuous cuts in the program, its resources have gained critical importance.
"For the persistently mentally ill, this has been a godsend. I've worked with patients, families from all over the state who don't know what they would have done with their loved one, without Southeast Louisiana Hospital," said Mordecai Potash, a psychiatrist at Southeast.
Potash says shutting the facility's doors will cost the state more money than it's trying to save.
"A huge flood of mentally ill clients on the streets, getting in trouble, having problems, interacting with the populous, causing problems for themselves, for business owners in the area... and there's worry for their families," warned Potash.
"The whole purpose of hospitalization is to reintegrate you back into your community, with your family, with the area that you know. You can't do that if you're going to be in Pineville... it was near impossible to do if you were in Mandeville," said mental health advocate Cecile Tebo.
Mental health advocates say Southeast Louisiana Hospital has been one of their top hospitals in the region, designed to manage over 2,000 mental health patients. Since the closure of New Orleans Adolescent Hospital, patients were sent to Southeast for treatment.
"In between all of this, there was another huge mental health hospital that closed about a year and a half ago, and that was Greenwell Springs. And again there wasn't a lot of attention given to that, but this is really the most devastating," said Tebo.
"It's very disappointing," said St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister.
Brister says she's been told patients will be transferred to three other facilities across the state.
"Pineville, Jackson, and I think some for-profit hospitals in New Orleans," said Brister. "It's difficult at best already to find beds for patients," said Brister.
She says it's hospitals such as Southeast that have helped St. Tammany Parish make tremendous strides in a high suicide rate. This year alone, 16 people have taken their lives, 275 others, have made the attempt.
"Those services that are provided by our mental health facilities are just vital to us," said Brister.
Hospital officials have warned they couldn't make deep cuts without closing facilities. Eight vital record service centers around the state will also be shut down, and some contract costs will be trimmed.
