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Your Concerns on Santa Cruz County Mental Health Cuts

Write or call:

Santa Cruz County Government
Board of Supervisors

701 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 - 831-454-2200

Email: infodesk@co.santa-cruz.ca.us

Bonnie Schell, one of the most active, educated and honorable people in this - or any - community, has succinctly described below the need, the horror, of what is transpiring!

We must NOT sit by! Letters, presence, numbers of us, noisy, UNaccepting, more of us volunteering FOR us... on BEHALF of us. I speak as a recipient and friend and family member of mental health/substance abuse/homelessness resource/assistance.

- BarbaraTempleton

Santa Cruz Sentinel Article on local County Mental Health cuts.

State Budget Cuts effect County Services

SC County Supervisors voted to put back 2% of the Mental Health Budget. 

Speak Out on Mental Health Service Reductions
June 16, 2002

Family members and recipients of services and Providers of services are critically needed to speak out about reductions in services.

You can read the details of county budget at www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us

Click on Budget Proposals.

I am listing below service reductions that I believe will impact the lives of mental health consumers: (At the same time changes in MediCruz costs and delivery of services will impact the working poor and mental health clients who have not been approved for SSI, especially homeless clients. More about MediCruz at end of this post).

JANUS will lose 3.3 Full Time positions of counseling and admin. support staff. JANUS is the only detox program and the most successful residential alcohol and drug treatment program.

COUNTY JAIL: Cuts include 1 Chief of Clinic Services, 1 registered Nurse, 1 1/2 Physician Assistant/Nurse Practioners. The Jail has a good reputation for its mental health services and the respectful way that clients in crisis are treated. 20 hours weekly is being cut from services to adults in jail.

COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH: cuts include 5 clinical positions for adolescents in the Juvenile Justice System and 2.86 positions providing services in jail and to clients in North and South County. Services to seriously mentally ill adults across the county are being cut by 94 hours per week. Clients will have their contacts with counselors reduced. We think Adult services need more case managers in the community, another physician's assistant, the addition of 2 benefits counselors. The budget needs to be increased, not decreased.

SANTA CRUZ COMMUNITY COUNSELING CENTER provides residential and addiction services. Cuts include 4 adult counselors in the El Dorado Program, reduced services at Pioneer House.

Money is being reduced that supports Tyler House for transition youth.

FRONT STREET INC. will lose 3 mental health rehabilitation specialists, 1 licensed vocational nurse, 2 counselors and a half-time housekeeper who work at 4 residential programs. Weekend programs are eliminated!

COMMUNITY CONNECTION: losing 3 positions including 2 job counselors. 1 Administrative position is being cut from the Mental Health Resource Center which cuts this program in half.

MENTAL HEALTH CLIENT ACTION NETWORK is to be cut 3% which is equal to $4,600. This will eliminate two consumer jobs. MHCAN needs an increase, not a decrease. MHCAN is short (169,612. minus 154,700 minus 4,600) $10,312 to pay rent, overhead, 21 consumer personnel all of which have been subsidized by a federal grant for the past 4 years, that ends Aug. 2002. MHCAN is closing on Saturdays until the rainy season Feb.-April to save money. During March, April, May MHCAN served 322 unique clients (57 new ones). 118 clients who came to MHCAN were Homeless, 27 of these were newly homeless. The cost per visit all day to MHCAN is $15.83. The costs per day for Jan-Feb.-March for MHCAN to operate are listed below:

Mental health county consumers and homeless with mental health problems have signed in for 11,136 daily visits between July 1 and May 30, 2002. In the previous year between July and May, 8,641 visits were recorded, which is 2,495 less than this year.  MHCAN is the most economical provision of a safe daily place with activities for consumers to be. We make referrals to the ACCESS team and help consumers with filling out Housing Authority paper work. Clients cook waffles, soup and macaroni in our kitchen for other clients toward the end of the month when everyone is broke. We provide a telephone and fax for clients who don't have a phone) to call about housing, jobs, and services. We demonstrate consumers in recovery working to help their peers. MHCAN also pays rent ! and utilities for Wednesdays when our space is used by the MOST team, by Compeer and by the Transition Age Youth Group.

MEDI-CRUZ
The changes and reductions are extensive. The pharmacy in Watsonville will be closed. MediCal clients can get RX's from local pharmacies. Those on MediCruz will be mailed their Rx's with provision for emergency antibiotics.

MediCruz patients will pay $10 co-payment for office visits and $3 for labs and x-rays. Those most ill requiring many visits and labs will be hardest hit. Patients will no longer be treated for anxiety or back problems. Services will be provided for the most seriously ill with cancer, HIV, diabetes, heart disease or obstructive lung disease. This is likely to result in other patients with less severe complaints using the emergency rooms.

The Primary Care Clinic at 1080 Emeline will reduce services for uninsured patients by 20%.

New county residents will have access to primary care for six months only and no hospital care.

The good part of this plan will be to have more benefits analysts trying to get people screened for MediCal for which the county gets reimbursement.

SUGGESTIONS FOR TESTIMONY:
Say who you are and why you care about mental health services.
Tell a story.
Best to address only 1 or 2 cuts and say what it will mean to your friends or family members.
Thank the Board for providing a time for public input.

Contact your supervisor, or all the supervisors regarding your concerns:

Supervisor Wormhoudt can be contacted as follows:

Supervisor Beautz can be reached as follows:

Supervisor Campos can be reached as follows:

Supervisor Almquist can be reached as follows

Thank you for anything you can do,

Bonnie Schell

___________________________________
Bonnie J. Schell, MA
Mental Health Client Action Network
1051 Cayuga St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
(831) 469-0462

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the
tune without the words, and never stops at ! all."
--Emily Dickinson
 

PLEASE  -- Do Not Underestimate the Importance of YOUR involvement.  You make a difference!

Opinions expressed in this web site do not necessarily reflect the views of NAMI Santa Cruz County, NAMI California or any affiliated organizations.  We attempt to present a balanced perspective on issues by presenting multiple viewpoints.

Copyright 2004 National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Santa Cruz County, All Rights Reserved.

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