Despite last week's announcement that Southeast Louisiana Hospital near Mandeville will remain open under an agreement with a Florida company, a committee formed earlier this year to save the behavioral care facility is still at work. The Committee to Save Southeast Louisiana Hospital has turned its attention to saving the jobs of hundreds of?hospital employees who received layoff notices recently from the state Department of Health and Hospitals.
The group has planned to attend the state Civil Service Board meeting in Baton Rouge on Wednesday to support the employees.
At a news conference Dec. 3, officials announced that Meridian Behavioral Health Services of Ft. Lauderdale will assume operation of SELH, a state mental health facility that has been fixture on the north shore for 60 years. The announcement followed months of turmoil that began in July when the state unexpectedly announced its plan to shutter the facility as part of an effort to offset major reductions in Medicaid funding.
The committee led the opposition to the state's plan and garnered the support of numerous local and state officials and public bodies. Several political leaders, including St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister, state Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, and state Rep. Tim Burns, R-Mandeville, helped create a plan to privatize the hospital to preserve the services and jobs it provided.
Under the plan announced last week, the state gave St. Tammany Parish the authority to manage all property at Southeast and signed an agreement for Meridian to operate 58 psychiatric inpatient beds: 42 for youths and 16 for adults. A separate agreement between the parish and Meridian allows the health care company to operate the 58 beds on the Southeast campus. The agreements also allow the current outpatient and group home services providers on the campus to remain in place.
All SELH staffers received layoff notices from the state, which will cease its operation of facility Jan. 2.?There are currently 364 people employed at the hospital, according to DHH. In filling the ranks of the newly-privatized hospital, Meridian vowed to give hiring preferences to current Southeast employees where comparable jobs are available.?
On Tuesday, Kathy Kliebert , DHH deputy secretary, said?Meridian has already interviewed about 350 hospital employees for jobs at the facility. "They are trying their utmost to keep as many employees as possible," she said.
For?those employees not retained by Meridian, the state will help with training and placement services, she said. All current employees, whether they are re-hired by the private company or not, will remain on state payroll through Jan. 2.
Committee spokesman Brad Ott said uncertainty reigns among the terminated SELH workforce, many members of which are still tending to patients at the facility just east of Mandeville. In an on-line flier urging support for SELH staffers, the committee says that its members are "outraged that this plan to save the hospital means the mass firings of its workers."
DHH announced in July that it would close the hospital, which had 94 in-patient beds earlier this year. State officials believe the closure will save $1.6 million this fiscal year and $3.5 million in subsequent years as the state struggles to cope with reductions in federal money for Medicaid.
The state health department says it wants to ensure a sustainable behavioral care system for the future by de-emphasizing the role of large public institutions and instead building partnerships with community providers.
Source: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/12/committee_to_save_mandeville_m.html
direct tv wimbledon ray allen Savages Home Run Derby 2012 San Diego fireworks steve nash
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন