ANGELINI PLEASED BY GOVERNOR’S DECISION

TO WITHDRAW APPOINTMENT OF FORMER ANCORA CEO TO HUMAN SERVICES POST

CORZINE’S MOVE COMES AFTER ASSEMBLYWOMAN SPOKE OUT AGAINST THE APPOINTMENT 

Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini, a member of the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee, said she is pleased that Governor Corzine will withdraw the appointment of former Ancora Psychiatric Hospital CEO LaTanya Wood-El to a position with the Department of Human Services that would have put Wood-El in charge of the same duties she was unable to exercise in her previous post.

“The Governor has made the right decision and I am thankful that this appointment is being withdrawn,” said Angelini, R-Monmouth. “It was outrageous that anyone even thought of appointing this person to a post she had already demonstrated she was not prepared to handle. You cannot tell me there was not anyone else in the system with the knowledge necessary to fill this position.”

Wood-El’s was forced to step down as chief executive officer at Ancora Psychiatric Hospital last December, after two patients had escaped, one patient committed suicide, and a female patient was smothered to death by another with a pillow. Despite leaving her post at Ancora amid this controversy last year, the state Department of Human Services has now put Wood-El in charge of overseeing statewide investigations at all five state psychiatric institutions.

“In the future I hope it will not take newspaper stories and outrage from legislators to force the administration to exercise common sense on these issues,” Angelini said. “I’m glad that this time we were able to put a stop to what would have been a huge mistake before it was too late.”

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