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Instructor from Jerusalem teaches art of paper cutting at JCC

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Bartoli makes case for community system

<p>WHITE HAVEN &#8212; The executive branch of state government handed down the decision to close the White Haven State Center, while a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the legislative branch are gearing up to challenge the move in Harrisburg.</p><p>Gov. Tom Wolf&#8217;s administration last month announced plans to close White Haven and the Polk State Center in Venango County within three years. The centers serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.</p><p>State Sen. John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, announced during a public hearing in White Haven Thursday night that the Senate Health and Human Services committee in Harrisburg will hold its own hearing later this month on the administration&#8217;s decision. That hearing is set for 11 a.m. Sept. 24 in Harrisburg.</p><p>Following that news, Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Butler Township, and Carbon County Republican Rep. Doyle Heffley announced Friday that they are working with House Human Services Committee Chairman Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, R-Bucks County, to hold a hearing before that panel as well.</p><p>&#8220;We vow to fight this closure plan,&#8221; the two lawmakers said in a joint statement. &#8220;It is concerning that this is no longer a proposal. Instead, the governor is moving forward with closure procedures. We are hopeful that he will hear the cries of those who testified at the hearing and reverse this decision.&#8221;</p><p>Many of those cries were heard from relatives and caregivers who testified about the impacts they foresee <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/755527/families-staff-denounce-white-haven-center-closure-yudichak-announces-harrisburg-hearing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">during Thursday night&#8217;s hearing before representatives of the state&#8217;s Department of Human </a><a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/755527/families-staff-denounce-white-haven-center-closure-yudichak-announces-harrisburg-hearing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Services</a>, held at a church parish hall in the borough.</p><p>In an interview during a break in Thursday&#8217;s hearings, Toohil said she fears that closing White Haven could be devastating for its 112 residents, many of whom have lived at the facility for decades and have severe physical and intellectual disabilities.</p><p>In particular, Toohil cited the effect on residents following last year&#8217;s closure of the Hamburg State Center in Berks County, of whom several later died.</p><p>&#8220;Stability is one of the number one items you need for your care when you are intellectually disabled,&#8221; Toohil said. &#8220;I&#8217;m very concerned about the mortality rate.&#8221;</p><p>Speakers at Thursday&#8217;s hearing raised many questions and concerns about White Haven&#8217;s closure, but DHS officials stressed they were there to take testimony and answer questions.</p><p>Contacted by the Times Leader, a DHS spokeswoman said Friday she would seek answers posed by a reporter asking about whether the agency wished to respond to those concerns. No response had been received as of Saturday evening.</p><p>Meanwhile, Toohil and other members of the region&#8217;s legislative delegation &#8212; on both sides of the aisle &#8212; have raised questions not only about the wisdom of the closures, but about why the plan was announced with no warning and almost immediately declared final.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m calling out the governor for not being transparent,&#8221; said state Rep. Gerald Mullery, D-Newport Township.</p><p>Mullery pointed out that the closure announcement came just two weeks after Wolf had signed <a href="https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroom/executive-order-2019-05-protections-of-vulnerable-populations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an executive order protecting vulnerable </a><a href="https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroom/executive-order-2019-05-protections-of-vulnerable-populations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">populations</a>, and created a council to seek feedback from stakeholders with ties to those populations.</p><p>&#8220;Fourteen days later, without one ounce of feedback he made this decision,&#8221; Mullery added. &#8220;I want to know why.&#8221;</p><p>After reflecting a moment, Mullery offered a response to his own question.</p><p>&#8220;I think I know why,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Because he knows his council would never be able to support this decision. There are too many ill effects that are going to be felt by the people that live at White Haven Center that his council could not have supported this.&#8221;</p><p>State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, also felt more notice and answers were needed.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re a bit confused. There was no discussion about why we need to do this, and it&#8217;s not just the closing of one facility, it&#8217;s the closing of two,&#8221; Pashinski said, referencing the separate announcement that State Correctional Facility &#8212; Retreat, in Newport Township, also is slated for closure.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s over 850 jobs, which is an enormous economic impact, to both those communities and to Luzerne County in total,&#8221; Pashinski said.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re appealing to the good angels within the heart of the governor and his administration to please reconsider and let us continue the discussion and see what we can do,&#8221; Pashinski added.</p><p>In his remarks Thursday night, Yudichak testified before DHS that the combined White Haven and SCI-Retreat closures would deliver an annual economic loss of $105.3 million to the region&#8217;s economy.</p><p>&#8220;The proposal to close White Haven Center is wrong from a budgetary standpoint, a policy perspective, and, most of all, it is the wrong way to treat people with intellectual disabilities, the families who love them, and the dedicated professionals who care for them,&#8221; said Yudichak, who has been working closely with state Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, in response to the closure announcements.</p><p>Is it difficult for Democrats to challenge a governor of their own party on these issues?</p><p>Mullery didn&#8217;t hesitate when asked that question.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not hard at all. I work for the 65,000 people in the 119th Legislative District, 112 of which live in the White Haven Center. This is my district, and I am their voice.&#8221;</p><p>Officials expect many of those voices will also turn out in Harrisburg when hearings on the White Haven closure are held.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Family and friends of the 112 residents at White Haven Center hold initials of those patients at a packed hearing to address the sudden decision of Governor Tom Wolf to shut the care facility down September 12, 2019. Aimee Dilger|Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091419white-haven4-8.jpg</photo0><caption0>Family and friends of the 112 residents at White Haven Center hold initials of those patients at a packed hearing to address the sudden decision of Governor Tom Wolf to shut the care facility down September 12, 2019. Aimee Dilger|Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Roger DuPuis</p><p>rdupuis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>MORE INSIDE</strong></p><p><strong></strong>A look at the Polk State Center, also set to close, <strong>12A</strong></p></factboxMeta></div>

Lawmakers taking White Haven fight back to Harrisburg