Lawsuit seeks to halt closure of Tinley Park Mental Health Center

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Updated: March 2, 2012 8:20AM

Two organizations that advocate for the mentally ill are suing the state to stop its plan to close the Tinley Park Mental Health Center in July.

Mental Health America of Illinois and the National Alliance on Mental Illness Illinois, along with Hazel Crest resident Lisa Guardiola — identified as a former patient at Tinley Park — contend in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Cook County that Illinois is violating state law by failing to redirect money saved from the closing to community programs.

The law cited in the lawsuit requires the state to shift any funds budgeted in a fiscal year for any state-operated mental health facility or facility for the developmentally disabled toward providing other services and support for patients if it closes such a facility or reduces staff or the number of patient beds.

Brie Callahan, a spokeswoman for Gov. Pat Quinn, said the administration had not yet seen the lawsuit and could not comment on it.

The lawsuit alleges the state will save $8.1 million by closing Tinley Park, and state officials have said they will not redirect that money “toward providing other services and supports.”

Actually, state officials have said they would spend less than half of the $20 million saved by closing the Tinley Park hospital on community programs and psychiatric care in private hospitals.

In addition, the lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Human Services and its division of mental health says the agencies have not shared a plan to redirect money saved with “any qualifying advocacy groups” as required by law.

It contends the state violated the law by reducing the number of beds at Tinley Park from last January to October and not directing the money saved toward other services and support.

The lawsuit claims private hospitals cannot serve the persons now being served by Tinley Park because the state has no plan to adequately reimburse the hospitals, and because the physical layout of private hospitals is not appropriate to care for the mental health patients served by Tinley Park.

The groups are seeking a permanent injunction that would require the state to reinstate the prior capacity of Tinley Park and continue to maintain and operate it until the state develops and shares with advocacy groups its funding plan for replacement services.

The SouthtownStar first reported last week that the organizations likely would file a lawsuit against the state.