Senate OKs amendment to close Clarinda institute

CLARINDA, Iowa — Defenders of the Clarinda Mental Health Institute contested its possible closing Monday, as those who want it closed cleared an early hurdle.

The Iowa Senate approved an amendment disregarding an Iowa Department of Human Services recommendation that the state close the Mount Pleasant Mental Health Institute. Instead, the bill would close the Clarinda institute once beds could be found for the 35 elderly psychiatric patients served there.

The geropsychiatric program offers long-term psychiatric care licensed at the same level as a nursing home. It is the only such program in Iowa.

The amended bill now heads to the House for consideration, said John Greenwood, executive director of the Clarinda Economic Development Corp.

Joining Greenwood in defending the Clarinda institute in Des Moines were Clarinda Mayor Gordon Kokenge; Jason Bridie, the Clarinda Regional Health Center’s director of marketing; and Gary Rock, the Clarinda Academy’s support services director.

“We were able to get in and see some of the key players on both sides, and some of them were very receptive to what we had to say,” Greenwood said.

During those meetings the delegation told legislators about the operations of the most cost-efficient of the four state mental health institutes.

“A lot of the legislators were not aware of that,” Greenwood said. “We also explained the integration of public and private entities on the Clarinda Treatment Complex campus.”

In addition to the mental health institute, the Clarinda Treatment Complex includes the Clarinda Academy and Clarinda Correctional Facility.

Greenwood said several of the legislators had received upwards of 200 e-mails from concerned citizens asking them not to close the institute.

Jennifer Herrington of Clarinda was one of them.

She coordinates the supported community living program and the peer support program at Waubonsie Mental Health Center in Clarinda.

“I really focused on the shared services and the impact closing the institute would have not only on the (institute) but the prison, the academy and my office,” Herrington said.

The programs Herrington coordinates provide services for clients with serious and persistent mental illnesses, she said.

Although the individual impact of closing Clarinda would vary from client to client, Herrington said that if a client relapsed, they would have to look elsewhere for the acute care required.

Even though the amended bill passed the Senate, Greenwood said he was encouraged by the response the local delegation received from legislators.

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