Oregon State Hospital Superintendent Dolores “Dolly” Matteucci announced on Monday her plans to retire from her post leading the state’s residential psychiatric facility.
Matteucci has led the state hospital, which has a main campus in Salem and a smaller satellite campus in Junction City, since 2018. The hospital, overseen by the Oregon Health Authority, is a key part of the state’s behavioral health care system with a workforce of more than 2,700 employees. It cared for more than 1,800 patients in 2023, many of them on court-ordered treatment so they can stand trial on criminal charges.
Matteucci, 60, will be at the hospital through the end of March, when a national search for a replacement will begin.
“A major life decision like this is never easy and required a great deal of thought to get here,” Matteucci said in a note to employees obtained by the Capital Chronicle. “It is the right decision, and I am ready for the next chapter of my life.”
Public records show she earns about $21,000 a month, or $252,000 annually.
During her tenure, the state hospital has faced the weight of the pandemic and struggled to accommodate patients who enter the state hospital under court orders so they can get treatment to defend themselves in criminal cases. The average daily population of patients under court orders for treatment in criminal cases soared from 228 in 2018 to 385 in 2023.
In the past, people facing charges sat in jail cells for weeks if not months waiting for an opening at the hospital for mental health treatment. Disability Rights Oregon, a watchdog and advocacy group, and Metropolitan Public Defenders, which represents Portland-area defendants, took the state hospital to court, reviving a two-decade-old case with a 2002 order that the state hospital was not following. It required the hospital to admit patients facing criminal charges within seven days of a court order.
The parties hashed out a plan with the state hospital for an outside expert and court-approved plan for the hospital to treat patients with discharge deadlines to send them back to their communities to face charges. The goal is to keep people moving through the system without clogging it up, whether in jails or the state hospital.
The hospital became compliant in July 2023 with the order to admit patients within seven days. Yet advocates and policymakers agree that Oregon’s mental health system remains strained, whether at the state hospital or among community mental health providers that provide outpatient care and residential services outside the hospital. For example, a recent state report found that Oregon is short by nearly 3,000 beds needed for behavioral health treatment.
Long career
Matteucci’s career started as an intern at a state psychiatric hospital in California in 1986. The next year, she worked as a registered dietician at California Department of State Hospitals in Napa.
“I knew pretty quickly that working with patients in a psychiatric hospital was for me,” she said in her email. “I had found my passion and my place.”
Matteucci rose through the ranks, becoming the California hospital’s executive director for eight years before she moved to Oregon State Hospital in 2018.
Staffers at the hospital, which has more than 2,700 employees, have often raised concerns with Matteucci, other managers and policymakers over understaffing, burnout and overtime, inadequate resources and patient assaults of staff.
At the same time, the state hospital also weathered the pandemic better than many other residential treatment facilities.
Matteucci noted in a release that no patients died during the pandemic and none required hospitalization for the virus. And it wasn’t until eight months into the pandemic that a patient tested positive for the virus.
Her retirement leaves a high-profile position for the new director of the agency, Sejal Hathi, to fill. In a note to staff, Hathi praised Matteucci for her leadership.
“Dolly Matteucci has done an amazing job leading the Oregon State Hospital during an incredibly complex and challenging period in the hospital’s history,” Hathi said in a statement. “Dolly’s devotion to the safety of patients and staff during the COVID pandemic and beyond will be felt for years to come. While I am sad to see her go, I respect her decision and wish her only the very best in her retirement.”
Matteucci’s last day on the hospital’s campus is March 29.
The next day, Dr. Sara Walker, the hospital’s chief medical officer, will become the interim superintendent as the state under Hathi conducts a national search.
Matteucci, through a spokesperson, declined a request for an interview. She told staffers that this is the right time for her to step down.
“Over the years, I have learned that in our world change is always afoot, challenges will always exist, and opportunities to grow and improve are endless,” Matteucci wrote. “There will never be the perfect time to say good-bye, and my time is now.”
