Send TVBH Support Letters by April 3rd!
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008Between today and April 3, 2008, we need you to email, write or fax a letter to Speaker Jon Husted, your State Representative and your State Senator.
We have received word that forensic patients are scheduled to be transferred starting April 3, 2008 - one week from today. We need your help to increase the pressure on our elected delegation, so it’s time to start writing to encourage them to ask what they are willing to do to protect our community. Until now, our communication has been directed to Governor Strickland. It is time to enlist our elected representatives in the region to help us communicate our opposition to the closure.
In addition to the elected officials that represent you in your home area, we are sending our letters to Speaker Husted because he serves as the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives. To find out who represents you, please click here. Attached is an Excel spreadsheet with our regional delegation’s contact information. Contact information for Speaker Husted is:
Speaker Jon Husted
Ohio House of Representatives
77 S. High St., 14th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Telephone: (614) 644-6008
Fax : (614) 719-3591
Email Address: district37@ohr.state.oh.us
As we have shared in the past, we have asked very pointed questions to ODMH and Governor Strickland. Those questions are attached, and we are still without facts and information regarding the background criteria used to reach the decision to close TVBH. Without answers to our attached questions, patients should not be moved and personnel changes should not be made. The public records request revealed information beginning January 31, 2008, and so we have filed a follow-up request of information from November 1, 2007 – January 31, 2008. (The results of the public records requests and our transcript are posted on www.gdaha.org.)
A brief fact sheet is also attached to this email and includes information that has been part of our message to the State of Ohio about the impact on all sectors of the community – patients, families, hospitals, law enforcement, WSU School of Medicine, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, local governments and others. We encourage you to highlight some of the specific impacts to the community listed in the fact sheet. If you need to refresh your memory, the timeline of events beginning with the announcement on January 31, 2008, that is also attached.
The Governor is aware of our questions regarding the proposal to close TVBH, but he has been reluctant to answer our questions directly or admit that his Administration made a decision without all of the key facts regarding the impact on our community. Our arguments have resonated with him and now it is time to increase the pressure on him by involving our representatives in Columbus. Be sure Speaker Husted and your elected officials receive your letters by April 3, 2008!