Counties Vote to Prioritize Community Mental Health

February 11, 2010 -- An influential group of elected officials believe it’s more important to fund community mental health before building another hospital in Junction City that’s scheduled to open in 2013. Otherwise they feel people will rely too heavily on that hospital rather than seeking care in the community.

 

The legislative committee of the Association of Oregon Counties passed such a resolution on Feb. 1. There was only one dissenting vote from Linn County. AOC represents all of Oregon’s 36 counties.  

 

Lobbyists intend to use this resolution as a bargaining chip when drafting legislation for the 2011 session.  

 

“We’re essentially asking the state to recommit to what they promised in the original master plan,” said Bill Hall, a Lincoln County Commissioner who chairs AOC’s Human Services Steering Committee and helped craft the resolution. “The message was clearly aimed at funding a system that’s been shown to work.”

 

Supporters aren’t trying to halt the construction of this hospital which they view as a necessary component of the state’s mental health system.

 

But Morgan Cowling, AOC’s policy manager, considers this resolution an endorsement of the 2007 community service workgroup report, which was done for the Oregon State Hospital’s master plan. It called for $387 million in additional community mental health funding over the next eight years, including $13.2 million for an outpatient model called Assertive Community Treatment Teams and another $8.9 million for case management to be spent between 2011 and 2013.

 

The budget for community mental health this biennium is $431.8 million, while the state mental hospital is receiving $273.8 million.

 

“The budget situation we’re dealing with makes every request for funding more difficult, but it’s another tool we can use to bring attention,” Cowling said. “We need a strong system of mental health care in Oregon, and that’s got to involve the state hospitals, and a solid system of community psychiatric care.”

 

John Lindsey, a district delegate on AOC’s legislative committee who represents Linn County, cast the only dissenting vote. He’s often the only “no” vote on resolutions, according to Commissioner Hall and Gina Nikkel, executive director of the Association of Oregon Community Mental Health Programs. Lindsey didn’t respond to The Lund Report’s requests for comment.

 

“I’m hopeful that they’ll look at the whole budget to see that the community services need to be adequately funded to support the state hospitals,” said Nikkel. “I’m most proud that it’s not a divisive resolution saying don’t build the second state hospital. It just asks the state to follow its own plan.”

 

Institutionalizing a patient in the state hospital costs $373 a day, while the price tag for keeping someone in the community is far less, roughly $5,000 a year which pays for psychiatric care, case management and family support.

 

Paying attention to those budget figures shouldn’t be taken lightly. “I don’t know if I’d call it great hopes, but I have at least some hope that they’ll take it into consideration,” said Commissioner Hall. “Even building the Junction City facility will be a substantial investment, so investing into the existing community system will be a better use of resources.”