Deep cuts: Maryland may shutter rural mental hospital
We begin a new series on the impacts of state budget cuts around the country ? governors and legislators are making deep cuts, with effects easily felt by residents. Maryland may cut $1 billion from its budget by the end of 2009. One of the proposed cuts affects a mental hospital in a rural community along the Chesapeake Bay; the governor says closing it would save $9 million. But residents worry there will be no safety net to catch its patients. We hear from reporter Melody Simmons, from our partner WEAA in Baltimore, as well as Tanya Rider, assistant director of nursing for the Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center.
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