Sylmar Facility to Lose 90 Patients

About 90 patients will be moved from a troubled psychiatric facility in Sylmar, according to the top mental health official in Los Angeles County.

Marvin Southard, the county’s director of public health, wrote in a letter to the Board of Supervisors that the Foothill Health and Rehabilitation Center is no longer fit to treat the county’s mental patients.

Foothill is one of two adjacent facilities in Sylmar that are run by Golden State Health Centers. Both facilities, which are under contract to treat patients placed there by the county, have been investigated in recent months for a high rate of patient-care violations and escapes.

Southard recommended to the board that about 45 county patients be allowed to stay at the other facility -- the Sylmar Health and Rehabilitation Center -- if Golden State can find a suitable firm to operate the home.

“Since the ongoing problems at Foothill have not ameliorated despite close scrutiny, the Foothill portion of the contract will be allowed to expire” on June 30, wrote Southard.

The 90 Foothill patients will be sent to other facilities in the county, where space is already tight.

Golden State spokesman Dan Durazo said Tuesday that the company had no comment on Southard’s letter, but added that the firm is working with Los Angeles County to ensure that patients get the “best possible treatment and care.”