Mental Clinic Closed by County; Safety Fears, Not Economics, Cited

Citing safety problems, not economic necessity, Los Angeles County officials Friday shut down the first of three mental health clinics that they have targeted for closure.

As the Wilmington Mental Health Center shut its doors to clients, lawyers representing its mentally ill patients petitioned the state Supreme Court to block the clinic’s closing.

The county is struggling to keep its mental health system afloat in the face of a budget crunch, and last August proposed closing some of its 28 outpatient clinics to save money. The closings have been delayed several times as a legal challenge on behalf of the patients moves through the state court system.

‘Third Time’

“We’ve been living with this now for a year,” complained Paul Schettler, director of the Wilmington clinic. “This is the third time that Wilmington has had a closure date.”

Although the mood at the clinic was somber Friday, it was busier than usual as patients who had heard it was about to close rushed in for last-minute appointments. They were treated until the regular 5 p.m. closing time, despite a sign that declared in bold print: “Wilmington Mental Health Center is closed.”

If the Supreme Court allows the clinic to remain closed, the staff will be transferred to a county clinic in San Pedro and its patients referred to that clinic and others nearby.

Chronically Ill

But staff members at the Wilmington clinic said their patients--some of them homeless, most of them severely and chronically mentally ill--may not have the money, the transportation or the psychological stamina to survive the transition.

“Unless they make it over to San Pedro, they just won’t get help,” mental health counselor Mary Ewing said. “Maybe they’ll be out on the street or taken in by the police or put in an emergency room. Or maybe they’ll be put in jail. That’s the kind of thing that happens when you close a clinic.”

Patient Christina Martinez, who said she suffers from a disorder similar to schizophrenia, said Friday that she is afraid to go to San Pedro by herself.

“I worry the most that I’ll lose my psychiatrist,” Martinez said.

Later, at a press conference, she broke into tears.

In briefs filed Friday with the state Supreme Court, the patients’ lawyers claim that closing the Wilmington center violates a Supreme Court order that allows county clinics to remain open until the court can review the patients’ suit. A ruling is not expected until next week, a court spokeswoman said.

Staff of Three

But county lawyers argue that the ruling does not apply if they close the clinics for reasons that are not financial, such as a lack of security.

The Wilmington clinic is in a county building in a low-income, primarily Latino community. The smallest of the county’s clinics, it serves 123 patients. It has just three full-time staff members--too few to provide a safe work environment, according to county officials.

Concerns about the safety of county mental health workers became acute in February, when Robbyn Panitch, a 36-year-old mental health counselor at a county clinic in Santa Monica, was stabbed to death in her office by a patient.

Francis Dowling, the county’s chief deputy mental health director, linked the Panitch death to the Wilmington closure.

Fighting Move

“It’s not safe, it’s not secure and we’re not going to take a chance in an obvious situation like Wilmington of exposing our employees to any potential danger,” he said. “I do not want on my conscience a repeat of the tragedy that we had at Santa Monica.”

Replied Jim Carroll, the San Fernando Valley legal aid lawyer who is fighting the clinic closures on behalf of indigent patients: “They’re using the tragedy of Robbyn Panitch to try to accomplish what they want to do, which is to close the clinics. That’s what this boils down to.”

The county initially announced plans to close eight clinics but scaled back to three after the Supreme Court’s ruling.

In addition to Wilmington, the Coastal Community Mental Health Center in Carson and East San Fernando Valley Mental Health Services Center in North Hollywood are on the list, but Dowling said no decision has been made as to when they would close.

“We are continuing to examine whether we can legally proceed with that,” he said.

At a press conference outside the Wilmington center Friday, officials from county employee unions charged that officials are using the Wilmington closure as a test case to see if they can also close the other two clinics.

Said Edith Pollach, president of the Assn. of Psychiatric Social Workers of Los Angeles County: “They’re just using this as a trial balloon to start the closures and see if they can get away with this without court permission.”

Times staff writer Victor Merina also contributed to this story.