Patti Dozier
THOMASVILLE — Southwestern State Hospital, one of Thomas County’s largest employers, is set to close within three years, according to a local legislator.
District 173 State Rep. Mike Keown, R-Coolidge, made the announcement at a Tuesday night citizens meeting at Thomasville Municipal Auditorium.
Keown said he would do everything possible to stop the closing, which is scheduled to take place by 2012.
Changes are inevitable in state mental hospitals, Keown said, but he will work toward developing a plan to prevent the local facility from closing.
“I really think they are trying to slip all of this by us,” he told an audience of about 600.
The legislator was not certain about how many people are employed at Southwestern, but he had been told 800.
He said officials at a state agency that oversees state mental hospitals consider some of the facilities in disrepair.
The plan calls for state mental hospitals in Thomasville, Milledgeville and Augusta to be closed and be replaced by a new facility to be constructed in South Central Georgia.
Further information about the closing was not available Tuesday night.
