Poughkeepsie Hospital’s Last Day is Today; Patients Gone
By Craig Wolf Poughkeepsie Journal January 25, 2012
Today is the last day for Hudson River Psychiatric Center, a Poughkeepsie institution that since 1871 has been home for those with mental illness, and until recently, a workplace for hundreds of people.
As part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s downsizing agenda, the state will close the hospital and move patients to other facilities, primarily Rockland Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg.
A spokeswoman for the state Office of Mental Health, Leesa Rademacher, said most of the clients were moved over time. The last 15 were relocated this week.
In May, Cuomo announced a restructuring of mental health facilities after the Legislature adopted a budget that he said would close an overall state budget deficit of $10 billion. The closing would affect 375 workers and about 125 patients at Poughkeepsie.
Mary Casale worked for 30 years and eight months and requested retirement. It’s three years early for the 59-year-old Town of Poughkeepsie woman, who said it would mean a less-senior worker will get to keep her job as a result.
Many of the workers took jobs in other facilities or state agencies where their civil service seniority gave them “bumping” rights to displace less-senior workers in similar titles. Others lost their jobs. Rademacher didn’t have the numbers Tuesday.
Casale said some refused to move for a job.
“They work in food service or housekeeping, and they were unable to make that drive with the price of gas,” she said.
About 30 workers represented by the Civil Service Employees Association lost their jobs, said Jessica Ladlee of the CSEA. She said that with a pay grade in the low $30,000 range, “you just can’t commute to Rockland County.”
Ross Pavilion is empty, its future undetermined.
“It’s like a ghost town,” Casale said.