Rick Green has an excellent column today in The Courant about the care for children needing psychiatric care at Connecticut Valley Hospital. The Department of Children and Families (DCF) spends $860,000 per year for each patient. Advocates for state fiscal responsibility, as well as advocates for patients, have expressed concern that this money is not providing the best care for children who can be institutionalized for several years at CVH. Other states spend far less money per patient by contracting care to privately owned corporations.
CVH is on 650 acres overlooking downtown and the Connecticut River. It was built in 1868, over the years it has become the state's sole psychiatric institution for children, housing patients from throughout the state.
NOTE ADDED (December 11th):
Rick Green's column is about Riverview, NOT CVH. See HERE for more on the relationship between the two institutions. Thanks to Dr. Dailey who pointed out this mistake in a comment.
Just a quick note to offer a correction. No children are placed at Connecticut Valley Hospital (CVH) in Middletown. CVH is a hospital for adults operated by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS). Children and adolescents are admitted to Riverview Hospital, which is operated by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. While the Riverview facility is located near CVH, it is not part of CVH.
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