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Hospital closure blocks payments to severely mentally ill patients

Palm Beach Post - 11/2/2019

WEST PALM BEACH -- When the county's only nonprofit psychiatric hospital abruptly closed last month, laying off nearly 350 people, the move had the additional consequence of cutting off as many as 150 patients from their monthly Social Security payments.

The patients with severe mental illnesses relied on the Jerome Golden Center for Behavioral Health to manage their monthly disability checks, which went toward rent, food and other necessities.

About 130 of those patients also lived in Golden Center housing. Those apartments in West Palm Beach are expected to close by mid-December.

Now, many face the prospect of having no home and no money.

"This is devastating," said Marsha Martino, who heads the local chapter of the advocacy group National Alliance on Mental Health. "I think we're all just expecting to have more people in our jails and in our emergency rooms. There's no safety net."

A temporary solution emerged Friday. The Southeast Florida Behavioral Health Network, which oversees the Golden Center, provided cash to patients who lost disability pay, said the network's chief executive officer, Ann Berner.

Also, Palm Beach County and West Palm Beach are working with the network and other nonprofits to lobby the Golden Center's board to keep its housing open, Assistant County Administrator Nancy Bolton told county commissioners in an email Wednesday. The group also is looking to find alternative housing.

In letters mailed by the state last week, patients learned that the federal government had cut off their disability payments.

When they lost their Social Security status, patients also lost government-funded health care through Medicaid and state food assistance, known as food stamps, according to a letter to one patient, whose family shared copies with The Palm Beach Post.

"This is terrible," said Joe Speicher, whose nonprofit South County Mental Health Center in Delray Beach also manages disability payments for patients, making it a payee. "If these clients are in a position to elect to have a payee, it's because they are unable to manage money themselves."

Though Southeast Florida Behavioral Health is seeking a permanent solution to help restore the lost Social Security payments and manage the patients' finances, the task could prove extremely difficult, experts say.

Transferring the "payee designation," or management, is as simple as submitting a form to the Social Security Administration, Martino said.

But finding an entity willing to manage the finances of 150 severely disabled people won't be easy.

"Best case scenario, even if they get those payments back eventually, no one is going to get it until someone is willing to take on that responsibility," Martino said. "And even if you do get an entity willing to take it on, it'll take at least a month, if not months."

Speicher agreed. His facility doesn't have the resources to oversee the disability payments for dozens of new clients, he said.

Meanwhile, the 131 patients in Golden Center housing will lose their homes by mid-December as the nonprofit seeks to sell its properties to pay off the crippling debt that forced the hospital's closure on Oct. 18.

"For us to lose this kind of housing for those individuals who are at the greatest risk of dying on the streets would be a shame for this community," said Diana Stanley, chief executive of The Lord's Place, a homeless resource center.

Jimmy Miller, chairman of the Golden Center board, stopped talking publicly before the hospital closed, and did not respond to phone calls seeking comment this week.

Berner, of Southeast Florida Behavioral Health, has blamed the center's board and top staff for the hospital's financial failures, calling it "mismanagement."

The nonprofit filed for bankruptcy in September, but withdrew the filing two weeks later, opting instead to sell its properties to pay off its crippling debt. It has made no further announcement about a sale.

lramadan@pbpost.com

@luluramadan

hmorse@pbpost.com

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