PUBLIC FORUM : KEEP HOSPITAL OPEN PLEASE, GOV. WILSON.

Open letter to Gov. Pete Wilson:

There are heavy hearts, with hovering gloom and frustration in our ``sunny state'' as the time draws nearer to the closure of Camarillo State Hospital. The patients are fearful, knowing that they are being uprooted and moved from their secure and familiar surroundings. Their families and friends are worried that their loved ones will no longer be near, with adequate supervision and the loving care they so desperately need to survive.

Why is this happening?

Clearly, it is the almighty dollar, and the state needs money. These 760 acres represent dollars; developers have been waiting in the wings for years to buy this prime beautiful land. No matter that the home of the mentally ill and the developmentally disabled is being taken from them.

And to add insult to injury, when Ventura County Supervisor John Flynn proposed that a mere 23 acres be set aside for use by the people being displaced, it was met with little or no acceptance. This is a true travesty, since originally the land was donated with the intent that it be used always for the disabled of this state.

California now has only three state hospitals (down from the 13 we had 30 years ago.) If one more must be closed, common sense would dictate that it should not be the best of the three.

Camarillo State Hospital (the most ideal, peaceful location for those suffering from mental disorders) should be kept open to serve Southern California; and Napa State Hospital should remain open to serve Northern California. Even at that, having only two hospitals to cover our large state is spreading treatment rather thin. Granted, new medications are now available, however the numbers of severely mentally ill have not magically disappeared.

Some will always require secure institutional care, for their own sake and the safety of the general public. With repeated closures, many have moved on to the judicial and jail systems (which is even more costly to the state). Many are homeless. New Hampshire and Georgia, after closing their hospitals, are now finding that they must be replaced, with a very high price tag.

Please do not respond that your task force has studied the above. The formation of that committee only gave us false hope. Only three of the 20 members had any close connection to the hospital. The committee was also directed at the onset to only consider what uses would be feasible for the land after closure. Obviously the decision to close had already been made. I remember no legislative action or approval on this closure.

I deeply admire one who can admit to being wrong and change his/her mind. May I appeal to you at this 11th hour to take some quality time to re-evaluate this closure which is so unjust to those who are least able to speak up and fend for themselves. A reversal is within your power.

Life is not always fair, but God is. He will judge us by the things we do, and by what we have failed to do. This is your chance to become a hero by doing what is morally right. Your earthly fringe benefits will appear at the ballot box . . . your other reward will come later. We'll be saying a prayer.

Irene King

Past President

Ventura County Alliance for the Mentally Ill

Thousand Oaks