Task force will not recommend closure of any of Iowa's four mental health institutes

URBANDALE – A special task force charged with reviewing Iowa's four mental health institutes will recommend that none of them be shut down.

Task force chairman Ro Foege said the state should not consider closing a state mental health institute until Iowa has built a mental health “infrastructure.”

“We have no mental health system,” Foege said. “We have a lot of different sectors, a lot of different people providing various services, but they're too often not linked with each other. They're too disconnected.”

A proposal to close one of the four facilities in Cherokee, Clarinda, Mt. Pleasant or Independence is due by Dec. 15 from the Iowa Department of Human Services.

The DHS proposal is expected to address or incorporate the findings of the task force, which worked to refine its recommendations Wednesday.

Ultimately, it would take an act of the Iowa Legislature to close one of the four facilities.

The task force questioned the closure of any of the institutions when the system to care for those with mental illness already is operating at or near capacity.

The task force held meetings and hosted public hearings across the state attended by more than 1,700 to garner input.

Their draft recommendation urged the Legislature to dedicate any proceeds from the lease or sale of any facility to community mental health and other disability services if lawmakers were to decide to shut one of the institutions down.

Members also cited a need to develop more community-based mental health services across the state.

The task force ended up broadening its review to include more than the mental health institutes, finding that many other entities play a role. Policies by judicial and corrections officials, private-sector providers or mental health services and others directly impact the admissions, length of stay and discharge of those in the public mental health system, they found.

State Rep. Renee Schulte, R-Cedar Rapids, is not sure that continuing mental health services in the large buildings of the mental health institutions is the most efficient way to do it.

“If there were a way to change the physical nature of the buildings to be more efficient and to serve more people, I think we would be better off in the long run,” Schulte said.

She said smaller hospitals in more locations, including locations in the towns that already have institutions, could help provide more services and bring care closer to people in need.

Task force member Vilas “Sid” Morris of Cedar Falls agrees that the state needs a coordinated mental health system.

Morris, a long-time mental health advocate, cited the high number of mentally ill in Iowa prisons or other facilities without treatment. He said the state needs to create a system that meets those needs.

“This group is exceptionally capable and knowledgeable about mental health issues, and what I want to see is our recommendation reviewed and considered,” Morris said.