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<br /> *Indian River County needs an implementing plan to accommodate
<br /> those we will have to serve . Without a well thought out plan ,
<br /> Patients will suffer and the community will suffer .
<br /> M 3 . The County Health Unit has indicated that at the present time there are
<br /> i
<br /> people in our community who are in stages of de - compensation who will end up in
<br /> crisis and be back under Baker Act care . Without a clear indication of where
<br /> they will be treated , they will end up in our jails and/or homeless shelter .
<br /> ,; I I
<br /> 4 , Funding from the State is imperative .
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<br /> 5 , The remaining mental hospitals (South Florida/Jacksonville ) need to gear up for
<br /> additional patients .
<br /> Jean Kline , Administrator of the Indian River County Health Department, stated that
<br /> they spent the whole day at the facility which originally was a British military base , taken
<br /> over by the state in 1947 . She had been there while she was in nursing school and it has not
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<br /> changed much in the interim . The facility is very dilapidated and in poor repair . They are
<br /> i
<br /> down to 308 patients from over 800 . The staff was very warm and receiving, compassionate
<br /> and very open with a high level of concern about the readiness of the communities served
<br /> to take over the care of their patients . They have discharged over 50 % of their patients in
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<br /> the last 6 months . Some of these had been there 20 to 30 years . They expressed concern
<br /> about visits from family members to the patients and felt the move will seriously affect those
<br /> visits . There is a tremendously high cost for health care for these patients and our
<br /> community certainly is not prepared to receive these individuals . G . Pierce Wood Hospital
<br /> serves our 4 - county area and the Department of Children and Families ( DCF ) is just
<br /> beginning to organize FACT ( Florida Assertive Community Treatment) teams . These teams
<br /> need to be up and running before any patients are received . Our community has no housing ,
<br /> educational support , occupational support, and no medication plan in place . She felt the
<br /> closing should not be opposed , but must be delayed until support services are available
<br /> locally .
<br /> City Councilman Craig Fletcher, 2345 Avalon Avenue noted that this was
<br /> very
<br /> traumatic experience for him to see the conditions in which these patients exist . However
<br /> JANUARY 16 , 2001 ' 1 16 PG 7 7
<br /> - 60 -
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