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Mary McCarty: Can Twin Valley be saved? 'I'm encouraged,' a mother says after meeting
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Even at the age of 72, David Acord doesn't mind taking over his 38-year-old son's successful salvage yard business.
A father does what he has to do when his smart, successful adult son suddenly begins hearing voices in his head.
Extras
But Acord wonders what he will do if his son is hospitalized again, and he and his wife aren't able to visit him.
"The two biggest things for my son are honesty and loyalty," Acord said. "And loyalty means visiting him when he's in the hospital."
Acord runs the salvage yard in Xenia; his wife, Ramona, teaches in the Dayton public schools. It was easy to make visits to Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare, the Dayton area's only state-operated inpatient mental health facility, during his four previous hospitalizations. "There's no way I could run the salvage yard, or my wife could teach school, and go to Cincinnati," Acord said.
Ramona Acord spoke eloquently about her son Friday morning, Feb. 22, before an audience of more than 100 people — a "Save Twin Valley" meeting sponsored by the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association.
"I'm a mother, but this isn't just a mental health issue," she said. "It's an economic issue. "My son is brilliant with computers, and he had just started a very successful business. He was hiring people."
State officials have estimated a savings of $13 million a year from closing Twin Valley, formerly Dayton State Hospital. At Friday's meeting, mental health experts, hospital officials and patients' families talked about the cost of shutting it down.
Walt Lichtenberg of Beavercreek was one of many residents who complained that state officials didn't conduct a similar forum before making its decision. "Apparently Gov. Strickland doesn't want anyone to confuse him with the facts," he said. "Well, let's confuse him with the facts."
Because of icy weather conditions, the forum's intended audience — officials from Strickland's office as well as from the Ohio Department of Mental Health — didn't show up.
Jim Ignelzi, deputy director of the ODMH, said he got up at 4 a.m. Friday intending to attend the meeting. "I was slip-sliding on I-70, and it was just too dangerous," he said. Legislative liaison Valarie Johnson couldn't make it out of her driveway, he said.
"They missed the moment," said Bryan Bucklew, president of the Greater Dayton Hospital Association, noting that other hospital officials and mental health advocates made the trip from Columbus, Shelby County and Miami County.
Jim Chase, longtime patient representative for Twin Valley, said the state should have held the forum before deciding to close the facility. "There was no debate, no discussion," he said. "They just told us, 'This is the decision, and it's not going to be changed.'"
Ignelzi acknowledges that's a legitimate issue, but said the department conducted similar forums last year at all nine state mental health hospitals, including Twin Valley. "The department was facing a $35 million shortfall, and we just didn't have time," he said.
Is there any hope the community can "Save Twin Valley"?
"I'm encouraged," Ramona Acord said after the meeting, "because the people here will make the state change its mind."
Let's just hope the state finally finds the time to listen.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2209 or
mmccarty@DaytonDailyNews.com.
