Another wrenching, emotional closure faces residents, employees and family members of a century-old medical institution. Mayview, which opened in 1893, will be the next state mental hospital to shut down.

The closing, which is set for the end of next year, is part of the state's -- and the nation's -- move toward deinstitutionalization of Americans struggling with mental illness. While it was easy, decades ago, to lock up and shut away these citizens, we now live in an enlightened time in which treatment, medication and supervision enable many people with such disorders to live in the community.

It would be naive to suggest that neighborhood placement is easy to accomplish or maintain. These are, after all, people trying to conquer major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, substance abuse or other health demons.

But with careful consultation and preparation by three key players -- the state Department of Public Welfare (which runs Pennsylvania's nine mental hospitals), county mental-health agencies and community providers (which will oversee the former patients in their new living arrangements) and the loved ones of the residents (whose support and involvement are critical) -- a successful transition can be made to better living arrangements for most of Mayview's 225 individuals. The typical options are group homes, public housing or living with family members.

As DPW has acknowledged, some of those now housed in the South Fayette facility may still need the intense care of a state hospital, and so they could be transferred to Torrance in Westmoreland County. But that should not be a deterrent to the state shifting resources to Allegheny, Beaver, Lawrence, Greene and Washington counties to help the majority of Mayview residents return to or near their previous communities.

Some citizens will cringe at the thought of people with mental illness moving in to the community. Seeing what sometimes befalls those who lack supervision, they fear crime, homelessness and personal harm. While these fears are overblown, the success of the Mayview transition will turn largely on how the state deploys $19 million in the first year, and additional resources later, to resettle the facility's patients.

In the late 1970s, Pennsylvania had more than 10,573 residents in state mental hospitals. Between 1979 and 2006, it closed 12 of them, including Dixmont in 1984 and Woodville in 1992, both in Allegheny County. Today it operates nine, which serve a total of 2,000 patients.

The closing of Mayview will be another step along this necessary path. The more care and more resources invested by the state, the better it will be for everyone involved.