State begins moving Dix patients to Central Regional

Raleigh, N.C. — The state has started transferring patients from Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh to the newest psychiatric facility in Butner.

Eight adolescent patients were moved to Central Regional Hospital Tuesday afternoon, Mark Van Sciver, a spokesman for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, said.

Patients from Dorothea Dix's geriatric unit are scheduled to move by the end of next week.

In all, about 100 patients will be moved in phases over the next 90 days. About 120 patients will remain at Dix.

The transition comes more than a year after the $130 million Central Regional opened to eventually house patients from both Dix and John Umstead Hospital.

Patients from Umstead moved into the facility in July 2008, but concerns of disability rights advocates prompted a judge to issue a temporary restraining order that prevented the state from move of Dorothea Dix patients.

That order was lifted last month after DHHS and Disability Rights North Carolina worked to correct more than a dozen safety concerns.

Once the move is complete, the state will save an estimated $500,000 a month, DHHS officials have said.

Dorothea Dix will stay open for the time being as an overflow unit and to house children and adolescents in need of long-term care.

4 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

4 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments

With 100 more patients, the state will need to ante up for more staff. Things are so strained now, it's a matter of patient and staff safety if there is a larger patient to staff ratio.

raleighlynn
November 18, 2009 7:02 p.m.

$500,000 a month it says

TommyK
November 18, 2009 9:55 a.m.

They spent $130 million on the new place. They'll save $500,000/year. At that rate it would take 260 years to recoup the money. Am I going crazy here?

bill52674
November 18, 2009 9:19 a.m.

Hopefully this will help staff to know where they will be working since everything has been up in the air for 2 years now. I hear rumors that another lawsuit is waiting to be filed as we speak on behalf of the patients at Dix who live here and work in the area.

nic
October 7, 2009 3:52 p.m.