BANGOR, Maine — Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center notified 45 employees Monday that their jobs will be eliminated, Superintendent Linda Abernethy announced Tuesday.
In all, the hospital plans to cut 91 positions, about half of which were unfilled because of funding concerns, according to Abernethy.
“We have spent the last year trying to hold every vacancy as people left or retired,” Abernethy said during a press conference. “The intent was to try to impact as few people as possible in the layoff.”
The lost jobs run the gamut from medical staff to groundskeepers, but the bulk of the departing employees are mental health care practitioners because they make up the largest class of staff, Abernethy said.
Dorothea Dix has been trying to close a large budget gap that resulted from a $2.5 million cut in state funding, which was approved by the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee in 2011. Dorothea Dix officials were told they had to cut that amount from their budget. The cut will also lead to a loss of federal funds.
The layoffs are no surprise and were predicted during the 2011 fall budgeting process. Some officials involved in efforts to reinstate funding for the hospital said they were relieved the number of layoffs was about what they expected based on last year’s state budget estimates.
Bangor City Councilor Joe Baldacci, a member of a 13-member ad hoc council committee that has been pushing to keep the hospital open, said the layoffs don’t indicate that the hospital’s future is any more at risk than it was at the beginning of the year.
After the press conference Tuesday, Shawn Yardley, Bangor’s director of health and community services, said, “As bad as this is, I’m breathing a sigh of relief” that the layoff numbers aren’t higher.
“We continue to express our belief that this is a critical resource for central and eastern Maine, and the entire state,” Yardley said of the psychiatric hospital.
Dorothea Dix, which has served 350 patients per year on average, is licensed for 100 beds but maintained only 65 last year. The center eliminated one of its four units and is now down to 51 beds, three or four of which are left open for emergency psychological care, according to Abernethy.
Despite the decreased number of beds, Abernethy said the hospital is on pace to admit more than 300 patients this year.
Abernethy said about 188 positions will be left at the hospital after the cuts are made final. The target date for the completion of the cuts is April 28.
The psychiatric center has been downsizing, merging and realigning services in an effort to save money and close the budget gap, according to Abernethy. But meeting the $2.5 million in cuts mandated by the state would have been impossible without eliminating employees, she said, adding that 80 percent of the hospital’s budget is made up of staff salaries and benefit payments.
With these layoffs, the hospital will meet its $2.5 million in mandated cuts, according to Abernethy.
“It will not be easy and it won’t be without a certain amount of pain, but we will do it and we will limit the impact to the extent that we can,” Abernethy said.
John Martins, spokesman for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, said the layoffs at Dorothea Dix shouldn’t affect or alter operations at the state’s other mental health facility, Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta.
But hold on i thought this was all solved, no one was gonna get layed off if it stayed open. Shocking this happened!!!! I mean i knew it was, might as well close it now
It’s a Reality in life, you can’t pay for services if you don’t have the money.
Unless you’re the federal government and just print more money.
Spending cuts must be made, people will have to be laid off.
The state should do the same with DHHS to balance the budget.
REALITY
just wondering if you’ll feel the same way when this starts happening on a large scale at General Hospitals instead of a Psych. Hosp. It is actually already happening at Gen. Hosps., and will get far worse very soon because of severe Federal and State cuts along with Government induced competition between hospitals by offering bonuses for select hospitals that can keep their costs lower than the next. It’s a race to the bottom in health care, with or without Obamacare being instituted. I doubt there are 26% less mentally ill patients in the greater Bangor area in need of emergent care @ times. There are some things in life that are so essential that Governments really need to do better job of figuring out how to pay for. Health care is one of them. Reality.
” Governments really need to do better job of figuring out how to pay for”.
I have paid my own for 31 years. I don’t need the “government” paying for me.
Well, thank you! I imagine that when people need a bit of help your generous charity donations are more than welcome. The rest of us are proud of you. No! Really!
Fortunaately you didn’t get tagged with a mental illness which lost you your job, your family, and your money. I am sincerly glad this didn’t happen to you.
I’m all for cutting government if you can tell me how we are better served by allowing these homeless ill folks to wander around Bangor scaring away the few potential shoppers that downtown has left, I’m all ears.
I commend your first statement, however your second statement is small minded and erroneous. Most people who suffer from mental illness are neither homeless or bothersome. It has also been noted in a number of studies that for most it is the stress of being homeless that caused the mental illness. Neither do most lose everything, although far too many do- mostly because people do not understand the varied nature of beast.
I didn’t write my response to or for you. Didn’t your mother teach you to stay away from “small minded and erroneous” people?
There is still time. Reading these message boards will drive any clear minded individual nuts.
I just addressed your point, very cynically, in a reply to Boxer.
Really? You paid your school teachers out of your own pocket? You paved your own roads? You tested your own food and medicine for safety? You defended our country single handedly? Wow, you are impressive!
I paid my share.
And so does almost everyone else. Shut Fox News off and learn to think.
Really? Grow up.
I’m sure, but you don’t have the resources to do all of these important things that made your life better on your own, so your need “government” to harness the collective power of your fellow citizens through expenditure of tax dollars. Some of them may even have a mental illness, or be affected by the disease. It’s easy to blame “government” for all of our problems, but its only easy because we have become so entitled that we take the uncountable number of positive services that it does for us for granted.
Make sure when you become elligible for Medicare that you DO NOT USE IT!
I paid into it.
Several people on it do as well
I have no doubt about that Nicole.
This should go without saying but I will say it. I am all for a portion of our tax dollars going to welfare, I appreciate times have changed and some welfare works well. I am very sympathetic to the disabled and mentally ill. I also believe there are many people that have been hard working Americans that have lost their job, lost everything and had to start over. I believe that every mom is a working mom and many have made bad choices that have left them in a terrible situation with little ones to care for. I believe those situations should all be evaluated, Weighed and repaired.
My beef lies with a few things that I will share.
1. Outrageous administrative salaries and overhead taking away from the actual needy.
2. The “spend it or they will take it” approach to government spending. Most of these liberal organizations have dug their own hole because of their hidden agendas and greed.
3.Americans that get “awarded” disability and stay on it for life even though their short term disability is over. They are robbing the actual ones that need help the most of benefits. How often are people awarded disability asked to go under future evaluations to see if they are still disabled.
4. People that walk into a methadone clinic in Bangor and get high for the rest of their lives on our dime. We pay for their legal heroin and the mileage to get there that a vast majority fudge in order to use our tax dollars as a source of their income. Some junkies are taking home over $400 per week in mileage alone, TAX FREE. They might be getting another couple hundred a week in unemployment or welfare benefits.
5. People that are too ignorant to understand an issue but have no problem spewing their opinion after listening to and repeating Randy Rhodes, Ed Schultz, Bill Mahr or the other top talk liberals in the media.
The rebublicans are the first ones to be thrown under the bus for trying to explain reality from a fiscal persepctive on many of todays inflated and abused government programs when the ones that should be held accountable are the ones that prey off the system and work the system milking you, me and the needy out of all resources to benefit their own cause that we should all be empathetic about.
I could go on but I wont, many disagree with me and that is their right. The constitution does give us all our rights. Nowhere however does the constitution tell me other peole have the right to what I have worked for. It doesn’t say Americans that get addicted to opiates have the right to my income. The constitution doesn’t say that government is designed to create jobs. It certainly doesn’t say that organizations that run out out money due to poor management must be bailed out by Americans that know how to run a business.
God Bless America.
Nowhere however does the constitution tell me other peole have the right to what I have worked for.
You must have missed that part:
“The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts
and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;”
“General Welfare” has come to mean (through a series of court decisions) welfare of the citizenry.
Do you pay for your own F-16’s?
I pay my share
So, you pay for the elevator inspector, the hospital, the fire department? Of course you say yes, you pay taxes but you want to cut all the same services……………..for everyone else but you.
That show went off the air years ago. Young the Restless however lives on.
sadly, you are right. whadayathink about renaming the show, “The Dumb and the Feckless?” By the way, I really enjoyed your recent barbecue post – I could almost smell the steak.
Mental health care has been the target of cost cutters for around 50 years. They started in the 60’s to close beds all across the country. The powers that be decided that they could better serve mental health patients in an outpatient setting. Too bad if a lot of these poor people who had been in mental health facilities died on the streets because they had no ability to take care of themselves.
I’m wondering if people will feel the same way when the burned out Staff Sargents come home and are shooting up American families.
As long as they get rid of the proper people, it won’t be a problem. In most cases, they start at the bottom though, which are the ones that are really needed!
how true is that!!!
Well, that does seems to the plan, and with the National Socialist approach,
as opposed to the Christian Socialist one, as the means, obviously.
Seriously, the conservative’s policies actually make better sense if
you look at their objective as being just that than they do trying to make sense of them from the point of view of their, somehow, being good for the American
working middle class.
A modest proposal:
Let’s just get rid of poor people, and ill people.
I appreciate your post.
”
As long as they get rid of the proper people,” …
Having the insane go untreated and on streets, to justify more State security spending,
then rounding them all up at once, for some final solution , or another, so the problem
is “solved” once and for all is a pretty classic ploy, too.
Where are on that timeline ?
I am not talking about getting rid of the patients….. I am talking about getting rid of their administration. Obviously, if they were running it properly, they wouldn’t be in this position. Everything is left up to the front line and I am pretty sure they are getting rid more of them than anything, thats what happens everywhere.
It is a State Hospital, you could have the best administrators in the world and still be in this position. Dorothea Dix exists at the whim of those in Augusta.
You are absolutely right, and I am not saying they are not good, I am saying I would bet there are a lot more than needed. Most state run facitites are “top heavy”
“I am not talking about getting rid of the patients…. ”
Of course not.
So don’t worry about it then, if your hand are clean.
And, I didn’t say YOU were, did I ?
“Insane” is a legal label. It’s not appropriate to use it to describe anybody suffering from a mental illness, regardless of whether the illness is serious enough to warrant hospitalization.
Do the rewrite then.
Let’s see THE more politically correct way for you to express my thoughts, please.
Man up.
I know two of the people “gotten rid of”. They and their important work will be missed.
The State has the money to do the third “East West” highway study after the other two said this road is not needed and would not be an overall economic benefit.
Correct me if I ma wrong, but the State still gives out laptops to school children who have parents well able to afford those devices.
The State still has the money to replace the Joshua Chamberlain bridge which is only 53 years old (The Brooklyn Bridge is 120 years old, it crosses a much faster flowing waterway, and carries 1000 times more traffic.
The State evidently has the money to raise the pay of State legislators.
It is strange to me that the State always seems to have money (under both Dems and Repubs) when Chinbro comes calling. When people need mental health services not too much.
Yes social services can be cut. (maybe start with the allowance addicts get for going to get their methadone) I just don’t think D Dix (the last resort for poor folks with mental illness) is the place to start.
Apples and Oranges.
I responded to the poster who wrote:
“It’s a Reality in life, you can’t pay for services if you don’t have the money.”
He was talking about fruit. so was I, I have no idea what you are talking about.
The state also give textbooks to children whose parents can well afford those things. What’s your point (aside from demonstrating how far in the past you are living)?
How far does it go? Why don’t we buy all the parents Cadillacs so they can get the little darlings to school in style?
No children of my own, but I have to pay for yours, and take your cr@p
while doing it.
Good thing my checkbook isn’t living in the past.
Dr. Bangorian, has a nice ring to it. Please explain to us how mental disease has become extinct? I must have missed the news when I was taking a nap.
More than whose parents can and can not afford to provide computers: the laptop programs was good in concept and absolutely a failure in implementation. The laptops funded by taxpayers are used for skype, facebook, myspace, youtube, etc. etc. Parents are required to police their use (if they care what their kids are doing) which results in another area of discord between parent/child. The average time spend on one of these devices should and could be monitored — even handheld video gaming systems have this ability, then we would know little Johnny spent 10 hours since yesterday on the computer and yet has not completed his history essay of two pages.
Are you speaking about your own children?
Very nice post and sooooo true!
You are correct.
We do not have the money.
The banks have the money.
Good grief! If you ever have a loved one who needs mental health services, I’m fairly certain that you will change your tune. We aren’t talking about a reduction in demand because of a downturn in the economy. We are talking about real mental health issues. They won’t go away.
Totally insulting comment removed before posting. If you don’t know that Dorothea Dix is DHHS, then don’t play with a keyboard.
In all, the hospital plans to cut 91 positions, I’m delighted to see that this administration is “creating jobs” almost as well as the last one. Out of the 45&1/2 people laid off, how many get to go to work at the State Unemployment Office?
More Maine jobs bye bye. LePage is at it again laying off people instead of hiring them. So much for the LIES that LePage promised during the election. He has lost thousands of jobs every month since he took office. Ironic that the country is adding 200,000 per month and Maine is losing thousands of jobs with LePage.
My company just laid off 5% of its workforce a month ago. 80% of Americans are worse off than they were since Obama took office.
And your supporting evidence is…?
207input takes his ‘facts’ from sources like fox news and rush limbaugh. Check out this useful link from our conservative friends (and notice how somehow 8.6% suddenly appears to be more than say, 8.8%).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/post/fox-newss-unemployment-chart-better-graphics/2011/12/12/gIQAUVgNqO_blog.html
Try again.
I do not own a TV and I am at work while Rush Limbaugh is on. By the way what makes you think I’m a he?
I think your comprehension is not quite there. I wasn’t talking about unemployment. Does the National Review fit into your narrow world.http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/293296/mere-80-say-theyre-not-better-four-years-ago
http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/293296/mere-80-say-theyre-not-better-four-years-ago
You said: “80% of Americans are worse off than they were since Obama took office. ”
Then you refer to a blurb that says 37 percent of those surveyed in a CBS poll said they were worse off. OK…..
At least you’re honest in showing that you made up the 80 percent figure.
Poll Shows 80% Think They’re Not Better Off Than 4 Years Ago; 15% Increase In Nine MonthsJoe SchoffstallTuesday, March 13, 2012 – 4:54pmIn a CBS poll released today, 80% of Americans said they are not better off than they were 4 years ago, as National Review’s Jim Geraghty points out:Compared to four years ago, is your family’s financial situation better today, worse today, or about the same?
The survey finds 20 percent say better today, 37 percent say worse today, and 43 percent say “about the same.”This number is a 15% increase from a similar Bloomberg National Poll conducted on June 17-20, 2011, when 65% said they were either ‘worse off’ or ‘about the same’, with 34% responding ‘better off’.
I can’t help you if you can’t read. You said “80% of Americans are worse off than they were since Obama took office. ” That is not the same as saying 80 percent say they’re not better off.
And I can’t help you if you don’t want to BELIEVE that 80% are worse off due to high food, gas and heating oil prices. Spin it how ever you want, you know as well as I do that people are hurting. You just want to play games until a Dem gov is in office and President Obama is reelected. You really don’t care that 99% of Americans are worse off. I guess you are one of those liberal 1%.
“And I can’t help you if you don’t want to BELIEVE that 80% are worse off due to high food, gas and heating oil prices.”
You still don’t understand how you misinterpreted the numbers?!
100% were worse off after Bush.
Yep. That is what he said..AFTER BUSH! Glad you finally realize that. Here’s a cigar.
are you actually serious? or is it built in hatred? Give some Facts on this.
After Bush is Obama. She couldn’t be more correct.
Once again, nice screen name. Best band on the planet! Everything Zen! I don’t think so.
While I diasgree about Bush being the best band on the planet (Gavin Rossdale couldn’t hold Freddie Mercury’s mike stand and Freddie is dead) Bushfan’s love of our former president reeks of him drawing his paycheck from Haliburton.
Sort of like after the horse parade comes the road apple cleanup crew. Some one’s got to do it, and someone has.
I’m with you. All the rich breaks the Bush admin put into effect continues to destroy this country. There is no way Obama can “fix” any of it with the GOP in control.
The first 2 years of Obamas admin he had the house and the senate so why couldn’t he change the tax cuts.?He could have screwed this country up more than he did.
Funny how Obama is now starting to employ some of GW Bush policies. Now why would that be?
And the Maine Maritime Academy in the next months will accept a 100 more out of state students each of which will cost the maine taxpayer $10,000 per year.
Shut the useless school down.
So everyone else should suffer too? P.S. This is a lot higher than 5% of the workforce. You give out the same attitude that keeps being repeated. Your job stinks, you are having it rough, so everyone else should have it rough. Ask Citibank or Shell Oil if they are having it rough with your tax dollars.
I actually like my job. I feel blest everyday I have it, but nothing is forever except heaven
Wow, talk about abandoning the ones (the patients) who need help the most. I hope LePage and the legislature are proud of themselves.
What a terrible message this sends to those who rely on this type of medical help. Mental health issues are very serious for not only the person suffering through them, but for society. It is very sad that after years of research and advancements across the board, we still treat the mentally ill like lepers.
Maybe the people who make these decisions should educate themselves on why, exactly, Dorthea Dix even began her mental health movement.
Well the women aren’t growing facial hair so Dr. LePage doesn’t see a need for a mental hospital.
I hope you are just as concerned regarding the the dangers of the birth control pill as you are about BPA? http://bodyecology.com/articles/dangers_birth_control_pill.php
Good. It is about time. Bangor will be no less safe or short on value if this place folded up for good. That said, the City council shouldn’t have stuck it’s head in here to begin with. Will they be so generous to stick their head in and try to save a bunch of jobs when Diamonds Gentleman’s Club goes out of business?
Maybe the community at large will be no less safe, but the same can’t be said for patients who really need the services. Acadia Hospital is frequently at capacity. People experiencing a severe episode of a mental illness need a safe place to go for help. Eliminating their options only hurts them even more and could lead to greater problems for them down the road.
Yet more evidence that psychiatric treatment is needed in our area.
And, presumably, others.
Wow….. thats going to bad on the jails as well. We really need these places. They can’t get any more lax on the criminals, they get away with murder now. Are they going to just let the mentally ill suffer in prison or just let them go and wait for them to commit another crime??
30% of all inmates, nationwide, are in need of mental health services. Unfortunatley they will not get what they need in the prison and jail system.
You are absolutely right. The front line people at these jails and prisons are hired as security guards, not mental health workers.
According to the National Assoc. of Mental Illness (NAMI), 1 in 4 U.S. families will be stricken by severe mental illness. And yet, mental illness continues to be the “ugly” step-child of the healthcare system. So much for “safety nets” and taking care of our truly most needy.
For those of your smirking & celebrating these cuts at Dorothea Dix, there but by the grace of God, go you & yours…
I don’t care who’s administration it is. When the money is gone and you have a $7 million budget gap you can’t just pull money out of the air.
I know after I’ve paid my bills and there isn’t much left, I won’t be going out to eat or to the movies. You have to make sacrifices and balance your budget.
After we have paid Wall Street and the War Machine, there is not much left.
Except, of course, medical care isn’t anything like going to the movies or out to eat. Medical care is essential.
maybe they should be looking at the clients that continue to have food stamps and their monthly checks but never contribute to there care while at ddpc,talk about fraud folks !!thats a huge part of this as well!!reality is…. is money is coming in,mentally ill or not,most….can contribute but pass it off to enjoy ordering out and buying new clothes and furniture!!we need something in bangor but hello alot of people ripping the state off and not the ones working for a living!!!!ddpc used to be a great place to work and help people!!!!now I wonder
Or some spouse wants custody of the kids, so the other party must be too mental to handle the kids; therefore, encouraging more disability even though doctors won’t sign for it saying they are too healthy.
Maybe the person accusing the other is mental and not just lying to get kids and funds?
I wonder too.
maybe a private company in the bangor area that is smaller than ddpc and all their overhead would work.it is to bad.If they did some changes and could make it better and more effiecent,who knows?having staff standing around 6 times a day and evening while pts smoke is;nt really all that theraputic. or is that now considered treatmemt?
Only if their smoking weed
Who might you be ? Clearly under the age of 62 but more than 25 years.
ya,I worked for the state a while back,seriously alot of things could be different and better but I dont have the BIG DEGREE to know much
WRONG! The closed the Levinson center, the costs have just continued to go up, and up, and up for each patient. How about you ask for the gov to report how much money was not saved by sending that to private industry. At least it succeeded in cutting the employee salaries and boosting the profit of the company that took over.
Great job LePage !! More jobs lost due to your bully tactics.
more like poor adminastration to get this bad!!!
Gov. Le Page is doing his job. It is not all roses as many would like. Cuts HAVE to happen.
That is fact.
I feel sad for those employees whose jobs are on the line. Last week the news was full of the recovering job market. This week we learned of 2 Maine employers laying off people. Whose job is next?
do you believe everything you read or hear from the current administration? I refer to DC.
It’s not like the Bangor area has a rampant drug epidemic or mental health issues or anything. Why stop there. Let’s cut more essentials. Teachers should be next to go! We don’t need your fancy book learnin’ and your snobby college degrees! We are Mainers! We have our guts — that’s all we need!
i have an idea, let’s execute the convicted murderers that we have in our prison systems.
We’d save tons of money each year!
No you wouldn’t. You would have to pay for the appeals process.
My mother was an RN at the hospital back when it was Bangor State Hospital. Back then there was a great need for the hospitals services. I think the need today is equally as great, maybe even more so, with mentally ill people being homeless with no one to help them. Also the Meth epidemic is certainly not helping mental health for those that are using it. There have to be other things that can be cut, that would not effect peoples lives, like downsizing this hospital will.
In two weeks time Bank of America is laying off 200 employees and now 45 at Dorothea Dix. Welcome to Maine the state of unemployed.
Maine – Open for Business…
Hollywood slots hired 100+ dealers
Cianbro is hiring 100+
Bath Iron Works is hiring 100+
Hotels and Restaurants are hiring for the tourist season.
Shucks, Diamonds is hiring if someone has the talent.
There are plenty of jobs, just not enough motivated people to work them.
Hollywood Slots could be a factor in the crime surge in the Bangor area. More people lose money there than earn money there, which cannot be good for the local economy as a whole.
Then why do they go?
To chase the American Dream of winning big and attempt to get out of poverty? Not the brightest people in the world. Who else would play slots with those awful odds?
You would have been a good nanny for the former nanny state guvnah
You should know, as you are a fine minder of political purity of thought in the new corporatist elitist Bund, right now, too, Medway.
So seriously, what is in it for you, personally, man ?
You are not part of their 1% .
Do you really think they will reward YOUR loyalty after they have eliminated all their opposition ?
Because they think that big jackpot that will get all of their lost money back is just around the corner.
Bread and circuses are always very popular in a declining elitist oligarchical empire,
don’t ya know, Bushfan ?
That would be because of the meth clinics, ask the sheriffs office. Fact
Shhhhhhhh, Libs dont like facts!
We are sending 50 to 100 million out of state because we refuse to let the “injuns” run a casino. Far better to give the case to an out of state white guy company.
Actually, Hollywood Casino lowered crime in the area. There used to be drug deals going on in the old Miller’s parking lot until HC moved in and put up cameras. Frankly, the people spending their money on bath salts are not the type to go to slots. If you went there, you would see such criminals as Uncle Bill, Aunt Sally, Grandma Harris and the well known Canadian tourist crime syndicate. Heres a thought, maybe crime is up because the economy is in the cellar, and unemployment is very high. No, that makes too much sense and does not support your vendetta against Hollywood Casino.
Yes, let’s gamble our way to bliss.
The problem with Hollywood slots, people in Maine don’t have the money to gamble. Gambling can cause addictions. We have a lot of people in this state with Mental Health issues.. Lets compound the problem and gamble your life away.
Not to worry, those who have concealed weapons permits can now take them to work. As if that ever stopped them before. We’ll get on the jobs situation as soon as we write a bunch of bills that have nothing to do with the single most important issue in this and every other state. JOBS!
Of course, it takes the focus off the real problems, this way the politicians get elected again and again.
Lepage think’s he is still at Marden’s, He should be impeached, He says he is for Mainer’s, well at least the people getting laid off worked, if you want to cut back for a shortfall, stop handing out aid, So workers with retirement built up are going to lose that too?? Sounds like the workers laid off will now have to go to DHHS for food and rent, and medical, THE PROBLEM WILL GET WORSE NOT BETTER. How will Paul attract new business with the patient’s out on the street.
Maybe Maine should be divided and given half to Canada, and half to NH maybe it survive then.
“How will Paul attract new business with the patient’s out on the street.”
What’s that supposed to mean?
We have enough nuts running around now! A few more won’t matter :)
“Maybe Maine should be divided and given half to Canada, …”
Please, make Bangor a border city, like Vancouver … the one on the Canadian side !
I have often wondered how different it would be if we where Eastern Canadia’s growing season were its longest, instead of being just the quaint yokels, Steve King’s inspiration,
in the woods and lobster fishing villages at the North end of the Appalachian Trail …
Maine: the forgotten land, of free range crazy people, running wild,
where the American recessions come first, and the recoveries come last.
……”He should be impeached”…….
Shouldn’t one know if that is even possible under current Maine statute…….before suggesting it?
That will be 45 more people that qualify for food stamps, medicaid and fuel assistance issued by DHHS. Great money saver…..
Uhhh, maybe not. Maybe some will go get another job.
Yeah, get another job in a state like Massachusetts, which actually has jobs available and doesn’t have an insane governor.
This is insane.
“Abernethy said about 188 positions will be left at the hospital after the cuts are completed”.
Thats about 100 too many.
Run it like a business instead of a country club and people would still have their jobs. You want to talk horror stories, I know a guy that makes $22 bucks an hour to push a broom. You could get 3 college kids to do the same job and triple productivity. And these places wonder why they have budget gap.
You know what a “budget gap” is called in the real world….not Koolaid land…BANK RUPT.
You really have no idea how a place like DDPC runs, don’t you? You want a 1:2 patient/staff ratio? Thats rediculously unsafe. It’s more than just direct staff she talking about. It’s physical plant, cooks, house keepers…ect. Have you ever tried to deescelate a pshychotic person on your own or with one other person? I didn’t think so. Your idiotic rants make me wonder if you’re a fan of the former president or the cheap beer? Get a clue.
Too bad you don’t work hard enough or are not smart enough to get that job. Maybe you could ask the governor for some assistance?
Hey, here is an idea.
Why don’t we stop paying for the JUNKIES METHADONE AND MILEAGE TO AND FROM BANGOR FROM PLACES AS FAR AWAY AS MADAWASKA AND CALAIS AND USE THAT MONEY FOR THE DDIX.
That is the best idea yet. Never have understood why methadone is given to an addict and then the addict becomes addicted to methadone. Dry saunas and plenty of education and support is the way to help the addicted become free of their addictions.
On methadone, addicts can become functioning members of society who are able to care for their children, hold down a full time job, and maybe even afford their own health insurance. Without methadone, you’re looking at a lot more money per person than a car ride and a pill.
We will have to agree to disagree on this one. I will leave it at that unless you want to continue the dialog.
The thought of DRUG FREE is what the People should be asking for. You are correct that more money is needed to get addicts clean of drugs using the Dry Sauna, education and Support, bottom line, Most remain drug free. what ever the drug addict woe, it is a sad statement in our society.
We should be starting with the many Meth clinic’s that Bangor has. Here’s an idea, when someone committs a crime and they have loads of resourses and assets, give them the max thus allowing them
to pay massive fines that they can well afford. No, we give them the lessor penality and allow their high priced attorney to plead them. If someone can easily afford than they should have to pay.
The story doesn’t say exactly what positions are being eliminated. Having spent some time recently at MaineOpenGov.Org researching school administrator salaries, I had sorted the statewide list by total compensation. Guess which agency had the highest paid workers in 2010? Out of the top 10, 4 are employees of Dorothea Dix. Here’s the list:
Bernard J Quigley, Physician III, $203,119
Marjorie B Snyder, Clinical Director, $201,180
Eve J Wolinsky, Physician III, $194,962
Michelle W Gardner, Physician III, $187,423
Keep in mind, this data is from 2010, and they most likely have had raises by now. Of course, these folks are Physicians and Clinical Directors, why shouldn’t they get paid $187k plus per year? A quick Google search for average Physician salary in Maine is $103,000 per year (http://www.indeed.com/salary/q-Physician-l-Maine.html). Clinical Directors in Maine average $88,000 per year. So, my question is, why are these folks getting paid double the industry average in this State? If these high-earners were to take a 10% pay cut across the board, that would result in a savings of $78,667 per year. Those savings could pay for a couple Mental Health Workers from losing their job at $35,000 per year. Or, if they were to normalize the salaries to the state average, we could save $389,684 which we could use to lower the budget or keep ten or a dozen of the jobs that are going to be eliminated.
Good Facts. Broom Pushers at $22 per hour is a little above market wages as well.
So sorry you are not worth a decent job, but that sounds like your failure to pick the right place to work or your inability to be a good enough employee to get good pay.
Hows 22 per hour when there is no hour. I’ll keep my day job.
you just hit the proverbial nail on the head.. TOP HEAVY .. that is the problem with many state agencies … So then who decides who gets laid off .. you got it the people making the big bucks and already being overpaid … they are not going to eliminate their own jobs ,, yet they will talk about how painful it is to cut 45 others… should be cutting their salary down to the average in Maine first then laying off the dead weight
The old director at the center moved over to MDOT to be the regional manager in Bangor.
wow that is top heavy and quite frankly disturbing because their jobs aren’t being cut ,not one of them,why is it we can do the math why can’t adminitration see what it is????it could save 4 many 5 mental health workers job that are on the front line every day helping these people !!!
You made a few errors in your calculation:
The numbers you cited included benefits, which added $25-$30k per person. For example, Dr. Quigley’s salary was $176,357. Secondly, you did a search for physician salaries. Do you realize the four people you cited were all psychiatrists? The median salary for psychiatrists in the US is $192,592. The median salary for psychiatrists in Maine is $172,954 (in the 25th percentile of the national average).
Which means that psychiatrists with decades of experience are making the median amount in Maine and on the lower end of the scale nationally.
It takes between 12-18 years of post secondary education to become a psychiatrist. You want to reduce their salaries, force them out of their positions, and have (relatively) inexperienced psychiatrists in their stead?
My mistake. I did search for Physicians salaries, but that’s because the State publishes their positions as “Physician III”, not “Psychiatrist”.
As a rebuttal, let me present some more information. I will continue to use “Total Compensation” including benefits for an apples-to-apples comparison. AMHI in Augusta has one “Physician III” making $200,590 per year (in 2010) and five additional “Physician III’s” making anywhere from $49,647 to $134,001 per year (again, 2010 figures). I think it’s safe to assume that these five employees are “in training” and don’t have the experience that the other, higher paid ones have. So, if AMHI, a facility only fractionally smaller than BMHI, can “make due” with one high-paid professional and five in various levels of training, why can’t BMHI? Bangor currently has four “high pay” Physician III’s and only two making lower levels of pay.
Yep, 200 thousand a year. Look up Psychiatrist and how many years of schooling it takes to become one.
Using your system we could fire all the teachers with degrees in our schools and put in some HS grads that once saw a teacher on TV.
I was intrigued by your rebuttal and examining MaineOpenGov.org, I found that several of the psychiatrists were not listed in the database. I specifically looked for a psychiatrist with whom I worked and found she wasn’t listed. Then I cross checked other psychiatrists from their roster; i don’t know why they aren’t listed but it makes me suspect of the list. With 99.9% certainty I can say that Riverview has several psychiatrists which are similarly compensated.
I agree that the job title is misleading; it technically means an M.D. with a board certified specialty, in this case psychiatry. I only knew the DDPC names listed above as I have worked with them.
Obfiously all Psychiatrists are over paid. Why they make more then mediacl doctors is beyond me. When I had Psych courses, what I learded is that is is not an exact science, and based on opinions. Two of these doctors can have opposite opinions and both get paid. I think it is a big scam.
Like vaccinations and evolution?
LET’S DOWNSIZE MAINE GOVERNMENT: We do not need to fill the position left by Olympia Snow, we get no result’s from Washington anyway, Collin’s should retire hire a lower paid Senator, and on and on,
Lepage step down, all you seem to be doing is causing trouble.
Legalize pot at least we can tax it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Businesses keep whining they should pay more taxes as they do not need to make so much profit,
Why do we need a East West highway to make it quicker to get the hell out of Maine, as it is going to dissolve.
What does US Senate positions have to do with State government? Take another toke and relax.
stop hiring back superintendants and public employees at full wages while they collect full pension
This is a mistake.
And, DHHS’s Communications Director for the state, Jon Martins, comment about the Augusta area, where he lives, is a non sequitur with respect to Bangor, n’est ce pas?
Why include it?
The mistake is that they built the new psych center in augusta too small.
They should have just built it larger, shut down Dorothea dix, and transferred all the patients and staff to augusta.
It would have saved in operating costs, provider costs, support costs, and would have allowed services to remain the same.
But that would make too much sense…
A key component in treating any mental illness is social support from family and friends. Closing Dorothea Dix and expanding Riverview to take in patients displaced by Dix’s closure would do nothing but further alienate those patients. They would be less likely to seek help if they know they would be shipped to Augusta.
Then you have to factor in transportation costs to transport patients all of the way to Augusta.
so let’s say that all the client’s families decided to move to kittery, are we supposed to move the hospital to kittery just for them?
These people are sick, some are dangerous, they’re there to be treated, and that means that sometimes you may have to travel to get the help you need.
If i need to see a specialist i drive to portland or boston. The hospitals and treatment isn’t going to come to me.
enough of the b.s. excuses.
“so let’s say that all the client’s families decided to move to kittery, are we supposed to move the hospital to kittery just for them?”
Don’t be silly. The patient population isn’t static, it’s dynamic.
If the entire population of Maine were to move to Kittery, it would be silly to make patients come to Bangor. The same situation is at play here.
“These people are sick, some are dangerous, they’re there to be treated, and that means that sometimes you may have to travel to get the help you need.”
Part of treatment includes being close and accessible to family and friends.
“If i need to see a specialist i drive to portland or boston. The hospitals and treatment isn’t going to come to me.”
Ther problem is, the doctors ARE here. You think we should close the hospital because it would save money on paper.
“enough of the b.s. excuses.”
Nice language. I’m not impressed.
With this downsizing of beds at this important facility, where will we put the Gov’nah once he finally loses it? Oh yea, I forgot he’s a part time Floridian and will be moving South as soon as he can. Maybe the Chinese will keep him to study the sub-species.
What do you mean when he “finally loses it”?. Your comment is too little too late to deal with the governor.
When you have crazy people running the State and know put somemore crazy people out on the street. We have a wonderful state we live in. Old Shawn must be sweating this out door yardly full of nutty people. Shawn making 75 to 85k per year is why you get the headaches.LOL
I will start by saying I am sincerely enlightened by many of the posts here which provoke serious discussion.
As an advocate for smaller government, I believe both our state and federal governments raise enough in taxes to do their legitimate work. The problem really can’t be a lack of enough revenue. The solution must lie in reordered priorities centered around a bottoms-up approach – starting with the most needy and vulnerable in our society. And I think that includes the mentally ill in our society, starting with those that require institutionalization…a clear no-brainer. Cab rides for folks that need their daily methadone shot comes under a different standard with greater scrutiny.
The Dix facility may be over-staffed, or under-staffed. That’s for the people spending tax money to determine and I hope to high heavens that they take that responsibility very seriously and far above many other spending decisions they justify.
We are a society collapsing und the weight of all of our needs plus good intentions.
The article should include the remaining budget amount rather than just the amount cut. Then we just need to divide by 51 beds to get an idea of what we’re faced with.
I wouldnt worry to much, in most state agencies you could cut about 25% of the work force and there would still be waste left over. In some cases it is absolutley ridiculous.
You are both uninformed and uneducated. If you had an idea you would quote statistics to prove your statement. Got any? Still waiting………………………..waiting……………………..no?
Maybe Bangor could step up and use the Hollywood Casino money to support this instead of the white elephant err convention center.
Give it up, the arena is being built. Don’t be a sore loser.
I wonder if LePage will lose his psychiatrist !
You clearly have experience with crazy people. Do us all a favor and do not have children.
Too bad the appropriation committee stole 23 MILLION from the taxpayers and gave it to their own companies or their spouses companies…………..2.5 MILLION could have kept a lot of folks employed. What a corupt government this country has. Very sad for the working folks.
How many of you people that are leaving comments here have actually worked at DDPC. How many of you have been punched in the face, kicked, spit at, hair pulled out of your head, choked, hit with chairs and tables, and the list goes on and on. So don’t just sit at home bashing the hard working floor staff, who are the only ones who have contact with the patients there. The high priced doctors may actually spend 10-15 minutes a week talking to their patients. The administration is lying about their real plans. It has been their plan for over a year now to have RN’s only as floor staff. They have not filled one mental health worker position in over 2 years, but they are constantly hiring nurses. So where is the cost savings with that plan. Most MHW’s make 10-14 dollars an hour and nurses 23-35 an hour. Maybe someone should go ask Linda why is that. So if no one asks the right questions, Maine will have one very unsafe facility.
Rev. Bob Carlson didn’t have a degree either but he made 6 figs a year. He was an expert on health, drug addiction, children, rape, he says religion, parades and on and on. I think at the end he was even a mild expert on bridge construction and physics. HE didn’t have the BIG DEGREE.
You must have morals and he had none so thats going to be a problem for you.
Good point though.
Half of the people who post comments here will have no place to go.
45 people lost their jobs this week. Many of them are the hardest working people at the hospital. It is sad! But what is sadder is these 45 people are now unemployed and the current regime at this hospital are HIRING 6 NEW NURSES! Yet 45 people who typically make less than a nurse are now unemployed. How many people at Riverview are now unemployed?
The laid off workers will be eligible for unemployment. Then when that runs out, they can go get a job at Walmart or McDonald’s. The only two companies hiring anymore. Then they can sign up for all the public assistance available to people who work for public assistance wages and the tax payers will make up the difference between what it takes to live in 2012 America and what big corporate America pays. The top 1% will continue to amass billions while the middle class continues to disappear. Don’t let this drive you crazy. They are going to be short handed over at the mental facility and they won’t be able to help you.
We are just at the beginning of this ride, hang on folks its
going to get much bumpier. This time machine is brought to us compliments of the ‘State of Maine Political Preservation Society’ (aka State of Maine P. P. Society). Think your untouchable; think again, the majority of us are standing downstream.
THIS COULD AFFECT YOU, If you just accept what Big Business does!!!
OBVIOUSLY THEY ARE NOT TELLING THE WHOLE STORY
Originally workers were told either retire or Pay for Health care,
Low Seniority workers could face a Layoff
INSTEAD More Senior positions, and higher paying Positions employee’s were given Lay Off notices, Which translates into those folks bumping out junior employees to get laid off, BOTTOM LINE Senior employees were scared or forced to retire, Middle tier folks are getting DEMOTED to lower paying jobs, Thus the Junior Seniority workers get shown the door. All hopes of having a job to retire in gone, IS THIS THINKING of the People of Maine, It will affect other Business in the area, perhaps even add to More people needing assistance, IF YOU WERE A STATE WORKER would this give you any incentive to bust your hump?
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS with bad leadership, ALL ICUMBANT’S to political offices should be replaced how much worse off can we be?
HELP MAINE !!!!!!!!!!!!