UPMC is looking for a permanent home for its Braddock hospital inpatient program that helps drug-addicted patients kick their habit.
UPMC Braddock, which is set to close in three months, is one of four hospitals in the health system able to provide behavioral health services. Drug- and alcohol-addicted patients who would have been seen there will be sent to UPMC McKeesport, UPMC Mercy, Uptown, and the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Oakland while officials determine where to move the program.
"There is a need in our community for acute detox services," Michael T. Flaherty, executive director of the Institute for Research, Education and Training in Addictions in Pittsburgh. "And (UPMC Braddock) looked after some of the toughest cases."
UPMC Braddock's comprehensive behavioral health/drug and alcohol detox and rehabilitation program averaged about 1,200 patients a year from throughout Allegheny County. Hospital officials say fewer than 7 percent of these patients come from the Braddock service area, which includes Rankin and Homestead. Most patients were in the hospital for four days or less, UPMC said.
UPMC announced Oct. 16 that it plans to close the 103-year-old Braddock hospital on Jan. 31. UPMC spokesman Paul Wood said key community-based outpatient programs, including outpatient chemical-dependency programs, would remain in Braddock.
Hospital officials are working with state and federal health officials to decide where within its health system a permanent, inpatient detox program would go.
"That's going to be our charge — to figure that out in the next 90 days," he said. "But the biggest point we want to make here is that services will still be available."
Braddock has 16 detox beds, and 40 others that can be used for behavioral health patients. After Jan. 31, all of the patients will be shifted to other UPMC facilities, Wood said.
inpatient detox center beds are being moved to Mercy. Inpatient psychiatric/drug and alcohol services would be provided by Mercy and Western Psych, a 439-bed hospital that treats mental health and addiction disorders. Many inpatient psychiatric beds at Braddock will be moved to UPMC McKeesport, which provides such service.
Flaherty said while it seems Braddock patients will have options for drug and alcohol treatment, he hoped the hospital's closure would draw attention to the need for more resources.
Behavioral health experts say only 20 percent of patients needing such treatment actually receive it. The rest either ignore the problem or have trouble getting treatment for reasons such as cost and access to transportation.
"When people can't get the medical care they need, they go to a higher level of expression — in emergency rooms, jails or intensive-care units," said Flaherty, who once ran the drug and alcohol program at the former St. Francis Medical Center in Lawrenceville.
Doctors, nurses and ambulances aren't the only things that will be missed when the hospital closes. The hospital was the lone provider of nonmedical services some Braddock residents came to rely on.
The ATM in the lobby is the only one in town. And the hospital cafeteria is Braddock's only sit-down restaurant, as other eateries have closed down over the years.
Founded in 1906, Braddock Hospital was in bad financial shape when it was acquired by UPMC in December 1996. Since then, UPMC has invested more than $60 million into the Holland Avenue facility, including $30 million in capital projects and outreach and marketing efforts to improve its image.
Nothing worked.
Empty storefronts dot the street, some secured by time-rusted padlocks. The local economy has been struggling for years.
Cynthia Dorundo, president of UPMC Braddock and UPMC McKeesport, said four in five Braddock residents were going to other hospitals for treatment. UPMC Braddock has 123 beds, but the average daily occupancy was 51. Hospital officials say UPMC Braddock lost $27 million in the last six years, and admissions fell by more than 21 percent between 2004 and 2009.
UPMC projected another $50 million in operating losses in the next five to six years had the situation gone unchanged.
"It's frustrating," said city administrator Ella Jones, adding that plans are under way for more public meetings to speak out on the closure. "We've been in decline for a while. And now the hospital's leaving."
