W.D. Partlow Developmental Center to close

TUSCALOOSA | There was a loud and extended gasp when Zelia Baugh, the new commissioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health, told about 100 employees at the W.D. Partlow Developmental Center on Friday that the facility will close by September.

Partlow, which opened in 1919, has 484 employees who care for 151 patients with intellectual disabilities, said the center’s director, Rebecca Bellah, before the announcement in the facility’s chapel.

Baugh said that there have been no new admissions to Partlow in two years. Ten patients who have severe disabilities will remain on the campus after Partlow closes, she said, and they will be cared for by about 42 current staffers.

“Our first priority is to the people we serve — their health, safety and quality of life,” Baugh said.

“Job preservation will be a priority as well. We are committed to assisting our dedicated staff in find alternative employment.”

For the past few months, job openings at Bryce Hospital and the Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility have not been filled in anticipation of the closure of Partlow, the only remaining state institution of its type in the state. Some of those open jobs could go to Partlow employees, she said.

Baugh said the mental health department is also partnering with the University of Alabama to create a database for jobs prioritizing former Partlow patients.

“We anticipate that close to 400 jobs will be created in the private sector, many of those caring for former patients who move to community facilities,” she said, adding that ADMH will also hold job fairs to help Partlow employees find new jobs.

Some employees, however, were skeptical.

“How do we know all these job opportunities are going to really be out there?” one woman asked, while another man said, “I’m 53, I’ve got 12 years in here and I guarantee you there won’t be a job for a 53-year-old maintenance man out there.”

“I disagree,” Baugh said.

“I don’t,” the man said.

After the meeting, several employees expressed frustration and anger about the announcement, although none of them agreed to speak on the record.

“It could come back on us,” one woman said.

Another man, who declined to give his name, said he feared residents would not receive adequate care outside Partlow. “These people are taken good care of in here. They’ve got nurses, they’ve got dentists, they’ve got staff that cares about them,” he said. “There’s no way they are going to receive the care outside.”

While there have been rumors that Partlow was to be closed eventually, including calls from patient advocates that the current residents be placed in community-based care, the abruptness of the announcement caught even city officials off-guard Friday.

Before meeting with Partlow employees, Baugh and her staff met for more than two hours local officials at City Hall to talk about the new Bryce Hospital that will be built on the 141 acres of land Partlow now occupies.

ADMH has drawn up plans for a $84 million new hospital on the Partlow campus using money from UA, which bought the existing Bryce land adjacent to the campus for expansion.

Plans call for a new 268-bed Bryce that Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox and some legislators say will have every bed filled the day it opens in 2013. They want a 350-bed facility.

Maddox, state Reps. John Merrill, Chris England, Bill Poole, state Sen. Gerald Allen and Northport Mayor Bobby Herndon met Baugh, a new appointee by Tuscaloosa Gov. Robert Bentley, for the first time Friday and said they were impressed with her honesty and directness, but still believe a larger hospital is needed.

It was only at the conclusion of the meeting at that Baugh told them the department planned to close Partlow in seven months.

“It breaks my heart,” Maddox said. “I don’t like the way the decision was made in isolation and I am concerned by the economic impact it could have on the city.”

But James Tucker, the associate director of the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program on the UA campus, said he was pleased with the decision to close Partlow and move most of the remaining patients into community-based care.

“This model has worked all over the country with no problems and these people can live productive lives outside the walls of an institution,” said Tucker, whose organization is funded by Congress and serves as an advocate for people with disabilities. “We also think the 268 beds at Bryce is too many.

“Most of these people can and should be returned to the community.”

Reach Tommy Stevenson at tommy.stevenson@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0194.

Key events in Partlow's history

1919: The Alabama Home for Mental Defectives is established on 100 acres near Bryce Hospital.

1927: The facility is renamed Partlow State School for Deficients in honor of its founder Dr. William D. Partlow, who was superintendent of Bryce Hospital from 1919 to 1950.

1967: Gov. Lurleen Wallace tours Bryce and Partlow in what was billed as a “tour of tears,” spurring her to fight for increased funding to alleviate overcrowding and substandard care in the state’s mental health system.

Oct. 23, 1970: Wyatt vs. Stickney lawsuit filed in federal court over the money spent by the state on care for people with mental illness or developmental disabilities. Judge Frank M. Johnson enters an emergency order requiring the state to take immediate action at Partlow. The case helps transform the U.S. mental health system by establishing a federal right to treatment for people with mental illness. The case also led to recognition that the mentally ill could be treated effectively in community settings.

2003: Gov. Bob Riley announces the possible consolidation of some of the state’s 14 mental health facilities as a cost-cutting measure and to help facilitate treatment of the mentally ill and developmentally disabled in their communities.

Dec. 5, 2003: At the request of attorneys for both the state and mental health patients, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson dismisses Wyatt vs. Stickney, releasing the state from 33 years of federal oversight.

October 2008: The Alabama

Disabilities Advocacy Program issues a report that calls for Partlow to be closed because of alleged abuse and neglect of clients. ADAP advocates that most of the residents would be better served in

community-based care. Alabama Department of Mental Health responds by saying the facility would not close, but the department would address ADAP’s concerns.

March 4, 2011: ADMH announces it plans to close Partlow by the end of September.

Address: 1700 University Blvd. E., Tuscaloosa Founded: 1919 Mission: Only residential facility in the state for people with intellectual disabilities. Residents: 151 Employees: The 484 on staff include nurses, doctors, dentists, therapists, psychologists, social workers, food service workers, housekeepers and maintenance crews Annual budget: $42 million (fiscal year 2011) Annual payroll: $15.8 million Annual cost per resident: $278,146 Peak population: About 2,500 residents in late 1960s Campus size: 141 acres Buildings on campus: 23

W.D. Partlow Developmental Center