State Senators Advocating To Keep Western New York Children’s Psychiatric Center Open

Republican state senators from Western New York – George Maziarz, Patrick Gallivan, Mark Grisanti and Mike Ranzenhofer – today wrote to Gov. Andrew Cuomo to urge him to personally intervene to help save the Western New York Children’s Psychiatric Center in West Seneca. Under the New York State Office of Mental Health’s Regional Centers of Excellence Plan, the WNY CPC would be closed and its staff and residents relocated to the Buffalo Psychiatric Center, which primarily provides inpatient, outpatient, and residential services to adults.Last week, Cuomo announced three mental health facilities in other parts of the state that were also slated for closure under the Centers of Excellence Plan will now remain open. The same result should occur in the case of the WNY CPC, the senators argue, because it is most advantageous for the young people seeking treatment there to remain in a friendly, supportive, campus-like setting free from possible contact with adult patients.A previous advocacy letter in support of keeping the WNY CPC open was sent to the governor Nov. 13, but, to date, no response has been received. The follow-up letter, released today, was spurred by the clear evidence from other parts of the state the governor and the Office of Mental Health are open to revisions to the original plan, the senators said.