Staff Mobilizing in Effort to Save State Hospital

Camarillo State Hospital workers must convince Ventura County residents that the only way to keep the facility open is to welcome sex offenders, consultants and union leaders said Thursday at an employee rally.

Officials from the California Assn. of Psychiatric Technicians and other top labor representatives urged employees to circulate petitions, knock on doors and pack public meetings before state lawmakers vote later this year on Gov. Pete Wilson’s recommendation to close the institution.

“We have to get by this label that’s been put on [sexually violent predators],” said Dan Western, a consultant working on behalf of the technicians’ union.

“We’ve got to convince the community that this is not a problem,” he said.

The plan contradicts a proposal by county Supervisor John K. Flynn calling for the hospital to stay open, but to exclude sexual predators.

Nearly 200 therapists, dietitians, nurses and physicians crowded into two separate afternoon meetings Thursday to figure out how to collectively influence decisions being made about the future of the 60-year-old hospital.

The workers gathered inside an old dining hall under signs that read “Save Our Hospital. Forensic Means Steady Jobs, Safe Community.”

They came away convinced that the best way to save the 1,500 jobs and $80-million annual payroll at the hospital is to take advantage of a new law that targets sex offenders.

“I’ll knock on doors, pass out fliers and go to City Council meetings,” said Annie Bernal, a clerical worker at Camarillo State. “Anything it takes to keep this place open.”

Under a state law that went into effect last month, so-called sexually violent predators can be detained for up to two years in a mental institution after they have served their prison sentences.

Western told the roomful of hospital workers Thursday that they should lobby for those patients to keep Camarillo State operating.

The hospital’s economic impact on the county could soar from $95 million a year to $165 million or more, Western said, because the current patient load of about 875 could nearly double. And the public would be protected from danger by armed guards and locked gates, he said.

“Every sexual predator will have two strikes on them,” Western said. “They’re not psychotics. They’re rational people and they know they’re going to get out.

“So any assault on a patient or staff is a third strike, and they go back to jail for 25 years,” Western said. “They know that. They’re going to be on their best behavior.”

Brian Bowley, president of the union chapter that represents the hospital’s technicians, told the workers they need to play politics to save their jobs.

“It’s really important to get the community officials as well as the merchants,” said Bowley, who already has helped distribute thousands of cards that say: “This money earned at Camarillo State.”

Workers pass them out as they spend their money, and also affix small stickers with the same message to their personal checks.

“These people need only be educated,” Bowley said of both elected officials and residents. “They want to be safe and we need to educate them with facts.”

Although many Ventura County and Camarillo officials support keeping Camarillo State open, no one has publicly backed the idea of filling the hospital with rapists and child molesters.

Even Flynn, who on Wednesday proposed a 10-point plan to keep the hospital open and the jobs secure, said he does not want such convicts brought to Camarillo.

Flynn’s plan, which will be considered by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, specifically calls for excluding such convicts from the hospital.

He could not be reached for comment Thursday. But a majority of supervisors already have said they support Flynn’s proposal.

Maureen Lynch, a local representative of the California State Employees Assn., said she understands the difficulty elected officials have in making such a commitment.

“But I think the politicians need to take another look at it,” she said. “If you put that strict a condition on it, you may end up losing the hospital.”

Workers themselves, however--most of whom live in Camarillo, Oxnard and Port Hueneme--say there is little choice but to increase the number of sex offenders and mentally ill criminals at the hospital if it is to stay open.

“The community needs to house these people somewhere,” said therapist Nancy Coleman. “And we have the facilities here because we’ve already been treating them here for a long time.”