Western State Hospital employees brace for potential layoffs

STAUNTON -- All 690 workers at the state mental-health hospital in Staunton have been warned of potential layoffs as a result of Virginia's budget squeeze.

Employees at Western State Hospital received a memo from the facility's director, Dr. Jack Barber, advising that during previous rounds of state cuts, administrators had slashed spending "without laying off anyone who did not apply to go. This is our aim with this round as well."

Still, officials are braced for cuts that could slice far deeper than before, possibly leaving less money for clinical services and community service boards, a critical front line of defense in safeguarding the mentally ill.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who is seeking to close a $1.5 billion gap, is expected to announce reductions early next week, spokesman Gordon Hickey said. State agencies earlier this year submitted plans to the governor for 5 percent, 10 percent and 15 percent cuts.

It's not the first time Western State has faced the prospect of having to pare spending. Since 2002, the facility has trimmed its budget by $4 million, said John Beghtol, Western State's director of community services,

On each of those occasions, Beghtol said, the hospital avoided cuts to clinical services, which includes the work of psychologists, psychiatrists and nurses.

Another concern for the 260-bed hospital is the potential trimming of budgets for Virginia's community service boards. Seventeen, or more than a third, of Virginia's 40 community boards are in Western State's service area. "If community service boards are cut significantly, they lose the ability to hold on to people in the community," Beghtol said.

If community boards are forced to scale back outpatient services, the alternative is admitting patients to Western State, Beghtol said.

That's a prospect that particularly concerns Don Lewis, executive director of the Valley Community Services Board that serves Waynesboro, Staunton and the counties of Augusta and Highland.

Among the services Valley Community Service Board now offers is what Lewis described as "a hospital without walls."

The Valley board's program of assertive community treatment provides regular treatment to 80 to 90 area residents. Lewis said the annual cost of that treatment is about $90,000 per person, and it involves regular contact with a treatment team staffed by a psychiatrist and case managers.

Without that support, Lewis said, the burden of providing care would shift to Western State, where an annual stay costs about $200,000.

Bob Stuart is a staff writer for The News Virginian in Waynesboro.