At a time when society’s unmet mental-health wants have achieved unprecedented public recognition, the County Board of Supervisors obtained a crash course in surprising excellent news from their directors about what number of new mental-health beds — the important thing metric for such progress — the Division of Behavioral Wellness has produced and funded over the previous 5 years. As astonishing as even essentially the most important mental-health advocates agreed the progress has been, the supervisors additionally heard the way it was nonetheless not sufficient.
Boiled down, the supervisors heard how previously 5 years, the Division of Behavioral Wellness added 206 mental-health beds to its infrastructure of care. One other 35, the supervisors heard, are at the moment in growth. And one other 132 are nonetheless wanted.
Getting a giant shout-out for a lot of the progress was Alice Gleghorn, the often-embattled former mental-health director who took over a division on the point of collapse. Firstly of her tenure, Gleghorn — who stepped down earlier this yr — and her workers took a list of all of the mental-health beds from most to least restrictive and located them severely missing.
Gleghorn’s technique — and that of her interim successor, Pam Fisher — has been to give attention to creating new mattress area for individuals experiencing mid- to low-level crises reasonably than dearer and restrictive acute-care amenities for these deemed a menace to themselves or to others. An evening on the county’s lockdown Psychiatric Well being Facility (PHF, pronounced “puff”) prices $2,567, for instance, whereas 23 hours — the utmost keep allowed — on a deluxe recliner within the Disaster Stabilization Unit, the place sufferers can depart if they need, prices $480. By increasing the care choices for individuals in much less acute disaster, the hope has been they gained’t want the providers provided solely within the extra restrictive and dearer amenities just like the county’s PHF Unit.
Sign up for Indy Today to receive fresh news from Independent.com, in your inbox, every morning.
Given the rising pressure skilled by hospital emergency rooms all through Santa Barbara County attributable to individuals experiencing extreme psychiatric turmoil, it’s unclear the extent to which this technique is working. Longtime mental-health-care advocates Lynne Gibbs of NAMI and Suzanne Riordan with Households Act each delivered uncommon reward for the division, however they each insisted that the 16 beds within the county’s PHF unit — the place individuals could be held towards their will if want be for as much as 72 hours — is nowhere close to sufficient.
The truth, nevertheless, is that folks have been lambasting the restricted variety of PHF beds — locked in by arcane however immovable licensing necessities — for greater than 40 years, and nothing has modified. Fisher talked about creating new area within the PHF by transferring out sure sufferers charged with crimes however deemed incompetent to face trial. By securing area in different amenities for these sufferers — who typically keep for lengthy durations — higher use could be made from the PHF’s admittedly restricted variety of beds.
The supervisors had been lavish of their reward. “Extraordinary,” Supervisor Joan Hartmann exclaimed over the magnitude of progress coupled with the brevity of the report. She famous that 150-250 inmates within the County Jail have important mental-health points. “That is the place we actually want to take a position if we wish to maintain our jail inhabitants decrease.” Supervisor Steve Lavagnino praised the division for opening up two new residential care amenities in Santa Maria with out triggering an rebellion among the many fast neighbors. “I didn’t get cellphone calls from individuals up in arms as a result of the county simply crammed one thing into their neighborhood,” he mentioned. Supervisor Das Williams steered the county ought to direct as a lot of the state and federal emergency funds now accessible for mental-health wants, even when solely accessible on a one-time foundation. Commenting on whether or not the build-out plans unveiled by division director Pam Fisher can be sufficient, Williams mentioned, “We’ll by no means know ’til we construct all of it.” Within the meantime, he mentioned, “We now have to reap the benefits of this time, this second to increase.”
On the Santa Barbara Unbiased, our workers is working across the clock to cowl each facet of this disaster — sorting fact from rumor. Our reporters and editors are asking the powerful questions of our public well being officers and spreading the phrase about how we will all assist each other. The group wants us — now greater than ever — and we’d like you with a purpose to maintain doing the essential work we do. Assist the Unbiased by making a direct contribution.
