Alarms keep new Butner hospital hopping

First-week glitches at mental hospital include a faulty alarm system and, perhaps, snakes

RALEIGH -- State mental health administrators worked hard all week to tamp down reports of problems at Central Regional Hospital in Butner, which accepted its first patients Monday.

But by Friday, Tom Lawrence, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services, acknowledged several technical glitches with the new $130 million building. They included a malfunctioning electronic alarm system that went off so frequently it had to be turned off.

A patient escaped briefly as he was being moved to the new hospital Monday and, Wednesday, a patient assaulted a nurse, resulting in a bruised face and broken finger.

Lawrence downplayed the significance of both events, saying the escaped patient was quickly recaptured by police.

Lawrence said Friday that the issues are what one should expect when opening such a massive and complicated facility.

"We're not concerned," he said. "We've just got to fine-tune some things and get things working."

But some who work at the new hospital say the problems are more than just hiccups. They are worried about what might happen once the full complement of patients arrives.

So far, less than half the planned number of patients have been moved in, all from nearby John Umstead Hospital. Patients have not yet been transferred from Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh. Dix houses some of the most difficult patients in the state hospital system -- those either deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial on criminal offenses or found not guilty of murder, rape and other crimes by reason of insanity.

The opening of Central Regional, which is to replace Umstead and Dix, was repeatedly delayed over the past year because of staffing shortfalls, insufficient training and design concerns that safety inspectors said could allow patients to harm themselves.

Advocates for the mentally ill who were invited in to observe the transition say the facility's highly touted "treatment malls" -- areas of the hospital where patient therapy sessions and activities are to be held -- are not yet operational.

"What you basically have is a bunch of patients standing around with nothing to do," said Vicki Smith, the executive director of Disability Rights North Carolina. "That's a recipe for trouble."

Lawrence said therapy and activity sessions should start next week.

"It was planned that way," he said. "It will begin slowly."

The malfunctioning alarm system, billed as one of the new hospital's state-of-the-art security features, includes wireless panic buttons that staff members wear and use to signal for help if there is an assault or urgent medical problem. Over the past five days, the $2.2 million system has sounded hundreds of false alarms.

Asked about the issue Wednesday, Lawrence denied there were any problems with the alarms, saying there had been some faulty computer processors that were replaced weeks ago. By Friday, however, the system had been disconnected and staff members were given whistles to blow if attacked.

Lawrence said Nortel, the company that built the system, had eight technicians at the hospital Friday working to resolve the problems.

"They started going off all over the place, all the time," Lawrence said of the alarms. "They're going to turn the system off and go with whistles for a while until they get it sorted out."

Staff members also have complained about malfunctioning electronic door locks and elevators that won't open. Lawrence said he was aware of only one malfunctioning door, which was being repaired. The rest of the problems appeared attributable to employees not knowing how to operate the new doors and elevators, which are opened with magnetic cards rather than the old-fashioned metal keys that staffers who moved from Umstead are used to.

Among the more bizarre issues to come up during the hospital's first week were reports of snakes in the building.

"We cannot confirm actual sightings," Lawrence said. "Which does not mean there were not snakes. As construction and move-in progressed, it's possible a snake entered the building, but we have no confirmation that I'm aware of."

Asked what would constitute confirmation, Lawrence indicated the capture or killing of a snake would qualify.

Exterminators were observed going through the building this week, looking for something, but the departmental spokesman insisted that was routine.