PHOENIX — The doors are closed and hundreds of employees have been laid off at St. Luke's Behavioral Health Center in downtown Phoenix. The health center's parent company declared bankruptcy and that has left patients and care providers wondering what happens if the health center never reopens.
“Many of our patients that have been court ordered multiple times, high risk, very psychotic, really struggle and have for many years, are very comfortable at St Luke's because it's a home to them,” Crystal Fox, a behavioral healthcare nurse said of the closure.
News that St Luke’s was laying off hundreds of staff members was difficult to hear but not entirely unexpected.
“We were out at the capitol for months fighting to get more beds. It is devastating that they chose to close not only St Luke's beds, the 100 beds at St Luke's, but also the 16 beds that they had for court ordered treatment,” Fox explained.
That court ordered treatment is meant to be intensive therapy that goes beyond a weekly appointment that only lasts an hour.
The problems for St. Luke's started to become more visible after their air conditioning broke. This resulted in patients being moved and the state suspended their license for health and safety violations. Steward Healthcare, the company that operates the health center and others, sent notice to the state of their intent to lay off more than 250 people.
Jane Jepson's son was a St. Luke's Patient.
“I can't tell you the degree of fear that I have for my son the only time he can stay in recovery is when he has a court order. And frequently, during the course of court order treatment, he he sometimes needs to be admitted, which means that he gets sick again, he doesn't comply, and he needs to be rehospitalized and stabilized,” Jepsen said.
Following the closure of St. Luke's Jepsen doesn't know what she'll do the next time he needs help.
“Why suspend the license in in August and do it without any additional planning for the future?” Jepsen added.
The Arizona Department of Health Services said in a statement they don't believe there is a lack of treatment available.
In a statement – the agency said in part – “Since the operations at St. Luke’s ceased, we have continued to monitor the situation closely in partnership with AHCCCS. At this time we have yet to see an indication that there is a lack of access to behavioral health beds within a hospital setting.”
A spokesperson for Steward Healthcare did not respond to a request for comment.
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