State plans to close VSH canteen

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Cross-posted from Beyond VSH:

UPDATE: This story was also covered in today's Burlington Free Press. “In an entry on the blog “Green Mountain Daily,” McCullough wrote . . .”

Picture this: you're scooped up out of your apartment and taken against your will to the Vermont State Hospital. Waterbury. You've heard of it before, but now you're there. You don't know anybody there, you have to eat and drink whatever food they serve you, and you're stuck in the building twenty-four hours a day.

Eventually you start doing what they want you to do, mainly taking meds, and they give you off-ward rights. One of those rights, which is built into a lot of patients' treatment plans, is the right to go to the Canteen. It's not fancy, but maybe you can get some potato chips or order a sandwich or a burger; maybe you'll listen to the juke box or watch cable news on TV; maybe you just want to be off the ward for a little while. Believe it or not, the Canteen is so important it's written into Vermont statutes.

The superintendents of the Vermont State Hospital and the Training School may conduct a canteen or commissary, which shall be accessible to patients, students, employees and visitors of the state hospital and training school at designated hours and shall be operated by employees of the hospital and the school. A revolving fund for this purpose is authorized. The salary of an employee of the hospital or training school shall be charged against the canteen fund. Proceeds from sales may be used for operation of the canteen and the benefit of the patients, students and employees of the hospital or training school under the direction of the superintendents and subject to the approval of the commissioner. All balances of such funds remaining at the end of any fiscal year shall remain in such fund for use during the succeeding fiscal year. An annual report of the status of the funds shall be submitted to the commissioner.

A lot of people say that the Canteen is the best, or the only good thing about the State Hospital.

Now they're closing it down. Employees learned Tuesday that as part of the state's budget-cutting project the Canteen will be closed down in about a month. It enables the state to cut three full-time positions.

The only problem is, what do you do if you're stuck in the Hospital and you don't want to spend all day every day, including all your meals and snacks, on your ward? I know patients at VSH who basically get no time off the wards except the time they spend going to the Canteen. It may be the best part of their day. Forget about whether it's therapeutic, and I think it is, because it's just about the only chance to spend time integrated in the larger community, it's the best part of their day that the state is taking away.

I guess if the state has to cut, there are only so many chances to take something away from people who have nothing.

3 thoughts on “State plans to close VSH canteen”

  2. a long way from the days when the Waterbury complex included a farm that provided much of the food consumed and allowed patients / residents an opportunity to work, be useful, and learn skills

    but hey, we don’t have anything to learn from the past…

  3. As the Canteen coordiantor I can also add that the Canteen has been run as a completely revenue neutral operation in the past. I took over in 2002 and a few years later the program was paying for itself. It still would be if administration had let me run it properly.

    It is also an invaluable vocational rehabilitation and occupational therapy tool, especially for those who are stuck in VSH for a long period. I was in that situation years ago, fighting for my right not to be medicated. I was allowed to work in the Canteen as a patient for most of my two year incarceration. That did more to help me that anything else. It also allowed me to prove that I could function without being medicated. In the end I was able to win that battle and get discharged without being drugged against my will. If it had not been for the Canteen program I might be on disability.

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