Union psych unit concerns neighbors

LYNN – Ward 1 City Councilor Wayne Lozzi said Thursday he was “deeply disappointed” to learn about the decision by North Shore Medical Center to put a 17-bed pediatric psychiatric unit at Union Hospital on Lynnfield Street.The in-patient pediatric unit, which will treat children between the ages of 3-17, according to a hospital press release, has joined a now expanded 20-bed geriatric/senior adult unit that had already been operating at the hospital.”I’m deeply disappointed to learn this,” Lozzi said when reached by The Daily Item on Thursday. “I’m sure that this will not be well-received by the neighborhood at large in this area.”Lozzi said he will seek to determine “what kind of assurances they (hospital administrators) can give the community at large about security and protection.”He also expressed surprise that hospital administrators didn’t communicate with him about the pediatric psychiatric unit – which opened in May – or other people in the neighborhood.”I’m a bit flummoxed that they’re not reaching out to us and letting us know their plans,” Lozzi said. “They haven’t contacted me. I’m always happy to have neighborhood meetings.”But Pamela Lawrence, senior vice president for strategy and administration for North Shore Medical Center, which includes Union Hospital, stressed repeatedly during a telephone interview Thursday that neighbors have no reason to fear the children who are, and will be, treated at the pediatric unit.”That same patient population has been receiving great care in a residential neighborhood for many, many years with absolutely no issues,” Lawrence said.She noted that both the pediatric and newly expanded senior adult/geriatric facilities are secure facilities, which she described as “basically locked units.”But she stressed that the children being treated there are not a danger to the community.” ? These are just children who are really vulnerable children who are in need of behavior and mental-health care,” Lawrence said. “We’re locking the unit for their own protection, not necessarily for the protection of the outside world because they’re dangerous, because they’re not.”Dr. Jonathan Stevens, Medical Director of the Inpatient Pediatric Psychiatry Unit, said in a prepared statement, “It is common fallacy that children (or adults) with mental health disorders – as a group – pose an elevated risk of dangerousness to the community. On the contrary, it is uncommon for children we see to have had prior contact with law enforcement. The children on our unit represent a vulnerable (and oftentimes under-served) population. These youth are prone to being stigmatized, victimized or mistreated by adults or peers.”Lawrence said hospital administrators made the decision to move the pediatric psychiatric unit to Lynn because its former location – at the Hunt Center in Danvers – left family and patients alike feeling isolated and unable to get the type of different medical services and amenities that Union Hospital offers.”These are children of families who live in this community. They are some of our most vulnerable patients,” she said. “This is so much an improvement of care for the patients and their families.”Lawrence also denied that administrators were moving the pediatric psychiatric unit to Union Hospital because they were planning to close down other services at the hospital. She noted the recent addition of an infusion center at the hospital and said plans are being formulated to improve the emergency room.”We have no current intention to change the array of services,” she said.Lawrence also noted that the hospital had two public meetings at Union Hospital to talk about the proposed changes that went into effect in May.”If someone felt they haven’t been informed, we regret that,” she said.City Councilor at large Stephen Duffy said Thursday he was “totally disappointed” about what he described as the “breakdown in communication” concerning the opening of the unit.But he noted there is “a need for those