The death of Dix – Letters – NewsObserver.com

With the blessing of DHHS Secretary Lanier Cansler and our General Assembly, Dorothea Dix Hospital will be put out of its misery soon. On Oct. 13, DHHS Deputy Director Mike Watson told lawmakers, “The fact that we received no budget for Dix this year is a very clear indication, given our current financial climate, that we really need to move forward with cost reduction measures.”

Our recent economic woes are a lousy, political excuse to close Dix now. This facility has been doing without much legislative backing for years, since the decision to focus more on community-based services rather than mental institutions was made. Community services still have not been funded properly while Dix remains on the chopping block. This would be comical if it were not so tragic.

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