RELEASE: May 3, 2000

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Former state psychiatric hospital patients who were placed in community residences when Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital closed in 1998 are functioning well and are happier with their lives outside the hospital, Department of Human Services Commissioner Michele K. Guhl said today.

Family members of the former Marlboro residents also were generally pleased with the community placements, according to an independent study recently received by the department. Guhl said the study answers some questions raised by critics of the proposed closing of Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris County.

"These results show that we have a good track record in closing institutions," Guhl said. "With the closing of Marlboro, we used a careful, deliberative process. We assessed the patients in our care -- not just at Marlboro, but in all four regional hospitals -- and determined which of them were ready to live in the community and which still required hospital care. We will use a similar process with the closing of Greystone.

"When clients can function in the community, and pose no threat to themselves or others, we always prefer the community setting," Guhl said. "Try as we might, we will never create an institution that provides our clients the rich, rewarding lives they can have in the community."

When Marlboro's closing started on July 1, 1995, the hospital held 776 patients. Many of those people were transferred to other state institutions while others were among the former hospital patients who were placed in community residences by the time Marlboro officially closed in June 1998.

The Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) of Cambridge, Mass., interviewed 269 of the 324 clients who were placed in community residences during the Marlboro closing. Each client was interviewed three times -- before the community placement, four to six weeks after the placement, and, finally, six months afterward.

The clients were surveyed on their satisfaction with the services provided by mental health agencies under contract with the state and satisfaction with their lives in general.

After six months outside the hospital, the former patients said their lives were generally better in relation to their living situation, finances, leisure activities, and personal safety. The former patients generally found their lives outside the hospital to be equal in terms of relations with family and friends, access to health care and personal empowerment.

Family members showed even more positive attitudes than the clients, the study shows.

Finally, staff in the state hospitals and those working for community agencies were interviewed for the study. They reported that their clients generally functioned in the community as well or better than they did in the state hospitals.