VCIL: Statement Against Cuts to the Vermont State Hospital

Prepared Vermont Center for Independent Living (VCIL) position statement read by Executive Director Sarah Launderville during last Friday's VSH canteen press conference held by advocates and concerned citizens:

The Vermont Center for Independent Living

Statement Against Cuts to the Vermont State Hospital

The Vermont Center for Independent Living (VCIL) is opposed to the closing of The Canteen at the Vermont State Hospital and urges the Administration to reconsider this decision.

The Canteen allows patients to be integrated into the community while still remaining in the environment of the hospital. Sarah Launderville, Executive Director of the Vermont Center for Independent Living has lived in hospitalized settings in the past and attributes her success to moving out, living back in the community, to therapies other than restricted environments. “I remember getting to the point that I had to relearn how to live in the community. Hospital living is very hard- you find yourself being given medications and in secluded rooms which are not positive therapeutic answers. I found that some people would come back to hospital living often because they got use to that way of life. By offering other options as part of the therapeutic environment people with disabilities have more success after they move out.”

As a cross disability rights organization, VCIL is people with disabilities working together for dignity, independence and civil rights. The Vermont State Hospital has been moving back in time and creating a very restrictive environment. There is no longer a gym, library or other social areas for people. This is unacceptable.

“This issue is not just something that effects a few”, says Launderville, it affects all Vermonters. “By stripping away important therapeutic settings people will remain in the hospital setting longer costing the state more money. It is important for the Administration to make decisions based on quality of life, otherwise the unintended consequences will cost us all more.

Vermont Center for Independent Living (800) 639-1522