DaytonDailyNews.com

COLUMBUS — The legislative battle over Gov. Ted Strickland's plan to close Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare in Dayton by June 30 now moves to the Senate, with both sides apparently dug into their positions.

A vote is expected on Wednesday, May 28, on the capital improvements bill. The version passed on May 22 by the House includes a provision to keep the psychiatric hospital on Wayne Avenue open for an additional six months and to earmark $6.3 million for a mental health crisis care center in Dayton.

Strickland has vowed to veto the six-month extension and "probably" veto the $6.3 million earmark, which would come from $8 million in the budget to be used statewide for mental health crisis care centers.

Dayton-area opponents of Strickland's plan are lobbying senators to keep the provisions in the bill and also have mounted a regional letter-writing campaign aimed at persuading Strickland to change his mind.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Carey, R-Wellston, said the two provisions are still under discussion and "we'll probably know on Tuesday."

Closing the Dayton hospital and a mental hospital in Cambridge is part of Strickland's plan to close a potential $733 million hole in the existing state budget. Closing Twin Valley would save about $13 million next fiscal year, which starts July 1.

The letter-writing campaign includes elected judges, business leaders, hospital officials, medical school official and others, all pleading with Strickland to support the six-month delay and earmark.

"I regret to inform you that the Dayton community has been most disappointed by the lack of leadership from ODMH (Ohio Department of Mental Health) which has resulted in no progress in the development of alternative systems," Dr. Jerald Kay, professor and chair of the department of psychiatry at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University, wrote in a letter on Friday.

Several letter writers contrasted the closing of Twin Valley to the nearly $84 million in the capital budget for a new Cleveland-area psychiatric hospital as they pleaded for the $6.3 million.

"If the state of Ohio can find almost $84 million for a new psychiatric hospital in an area that is not losing any ODMH services, it can afford this request for the Dayton region that is losing an entire psychiatric hospital," Wayne Deschambeau, president and CEO of Wayne Hospital in Greenville, wrote on Friday.

Strickland and his aides have said the Dayton and Cleveland situations are different. The Cleveland-area hospital will replace two aging hospitals that are closing and will serve a multi-county regional area, they have said.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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