Some Fear Hospital Closure Plans Advancing

Parents of some longtime Camarillo State Hospital patients are fearful that state officials are pushing ahead with plans to move hundreds of clients even before a task force finishes studying ways to spare the facility from closure.

State health administrators already are plotting the relocation of more than 400 retarded patients from Camarillo to other state developmental centers, members of a parents’ advocacy group complain.

“It’s clear that they believe that this closure is a done deal,” said John Chase of Green Line Parents Group, a nonprofit agency serving mentally retarded patients at Camarillo State Hospital.

“I don’t see them giving much, if any, concern to the recommendations of the task force,” said Chase, whose daughter lives at the threatened facility. “There’s a lot of insincerity in this whole process.”

Officials at the state Department of Developmental Services concede they are making some plans to relocate patients. But they and officials at the state Department of Mental Health, which combines with developmental services to treat about 850 patients at the aging hospital west of Camarillo, insist that no final decision has been made on the future of the hospital.

In fact, the Department of Mental Health stopped making arrangements for shutting down its Camarillo State Hospital programs after Gov. Pete Wilson formed the task force now evaluating the facility.

Wilson called for a panel of business and community leaders to study potential uses for the property once the hospital closes June 30. A report from the panel is due this fall.

“We are sitting on our closure plan,” said Nora Ramiro, a Department of Mental Health spokeswoman. “We are not doing anything until the task force comes out with its report by Nov. 1.”

But the Department of Developmental Services, which treats about 450 mentally retarded patients at the hospital, has been making plans for its clients, officials there concede.

“The governor recommended in his budget that there would be a closure,” said Douglas Van Meter, a deputy director of that department. “We would have been negligent if we had not started a planning process about how to pursue a closure.”

Norm Cramer, an administrator at Camarillo State Hospital, told about 100 people at the task force’s public hearing last Friday that relocation plans for developmentally disabled patients already are underway.

Cramer said “transfer teams” are videotaping other state institutions so that longtime Camarillo patients will be more familiar with their new surroundings.

“We have just gotten started on this,” Cramer told the task force. “Whatever the eventuality was, we had to get our planning going.”

Van Meter said his agency is designing improvements at Porterville Developmental Center to treat about 250 retarded clients from Camarillo who were ordered into the system by judges.

If the hospital does close, the families of civilly committed patients will be able to choose a group home or institution for their relocation, Van Meter said.

The state budget signed by Wilson last month called for closing the state hospital by June 30. The budget provided some money for improvements at Porterville, but set aside about $12 million in closure costs until the task force makes a recommendation.

“We’re not presupposing what the governor will decide,” Van Meter said. But “we have pretty good indications about what he has already told us, and that’s been reflected in the budget.”

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State Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) has been fighting to keep some space available at Camarillo State Hospital for patients with relatives in Ventura County. But many parents doubt her clout will be enough.

“I believe [Wright] is doing everything in her power, but she is only one vote,” said Marcia Flannery, whose son has lived at the hospital for more than 25 years.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this task force,” Flannery said. “I felt from almost the beginning that this was a done deal and that this is all for show. This is just politics and money.”

Gene West of Oxnard has a developmentally disabled son who has lived at Camarillo State Hospital for nine years.

Like other parents, West is lobbying the task force to provide some space at Camarillo after next June for longtime patients such as his son, so parents will not have to drive to far-off hospitals in Porterville or elsewhere.

“Our only hope is that the task force will come up with a recommendation that makes it economically feasible to keep the residents there,” he said.

Joanne Kozberg, secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency, is the chair of the task force looking at Camarillo State Hospital, its 85 buildings and surrounding 750 acres.

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The 20-member panel is considering a number of uses for the property, including plans that could see some patients remaining at the facility beyond June, she said.

“It’s too early to come out with any comment,” Kozberg said Tuesday. “It’s an entirely open process.”

Nonetheless, Kozberg said parents of longtime patients should prepare for the possibility of watching their sons and daughters moved to group homes or other state institutions.

“I don’t want to create any type of anticipation that would bring heartache to any of these families,” Kozberg said. The parents “need to explore their options.”

But West and others have their doubts on how seriously the state will consider their wishes. He cited an advisory group’s recommendation last year to keep Camarillo State Hospital open.

The next thing West knew, he said, Wilson announced plans to close the hospital and had credited an advisory group with making that suggestion. The Times reported in January that members of that panel said they never targeted Camarillo State Hospital for closure.

“Based on the past performance of this department, I am skeptical,” West said.