Hospital closure blocks payments to severely mentally ill patients
Palm Beach PostNov 02, 2019
The patients with severe mental illnesses relied on the
About 130 of those patients also lived in Golden Center housing. Those apartments in
Now, many face the prospect of having no home and no money.
"This is devastating," said
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,
Also,
In letters mailed by the state last week, patients learned that the federal government had cut off their disability payments.
When they lost their
"This is terrible," said
Though
Transferring the "payee designation," or management, is as simple as submitting a form to the
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
"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
Berner, of
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.
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