Readers sound off about mental health care in N.C.

Warnings were ignored

In a Feb. 24 article, the director of budget and analysis at Health and Human Services, Jim Slate, is quoted as saying, "I've heard the analogy used here that this sort of lined up to be the perfect storm. Did we know it was going to do what it's done? No. Nobody had a clue."

I think it more accurate to say that nobody from state government could be bothered to listen to warnings from those of us in the bow of the ship who saw rocks, reefs and icebergs dead ahead.

At the time mental health "reform" was first initiated, I was a substance abuse counselor with Wake County Human Services' Court Services program, which provided substance abuse services to Wake residents who had been convicted of DWI and related crimes. Ours was the first Wake County program cut from the budget due to mental health "reform." State and county officials swept in and explained the new state plan to us, how state and local government agencies were to stop providing treatment services and instead refer all clients to the private sector.

Those of us in the trenches --those of us who actually do the work and provide the services --immediately identified profound problems, difficulties, and outright impossibilities with the new state plan as explained to us by these nonclinical administrative higher-ups one never saw otherwise. Virtually every mental health reform problem that eventually did come to pass was predicted by one or another of those soon-to-be-eliminated Court Services staff members. Our concerns were summarily ignored with a pat on the head and assurances that better, smarter people were "on it."

Rob Martin

Rocky Mount

Listen up, legislators

Dear esteemed lawmakers,

I am asking you to show support for our state's mentally ill by demanding a special session. Please look into the Dorothea Dix Hospital closure plan and intervene on behalf of the hospital staffs, mental health sufferers and their families. You say the General Assembly is serving the best interest of the patients, but these proposed closings appear callous, calculating and self-serving.

I cannot begin to impress on you how losing these facilities now will affect the future of mental health in North Carolina. Why eliminate viable options during this "transformation" period by keeping them off the negotiating table?

These hospitals should remain open until statewide community continuum care is supplied sufficiently and performing adequately. Is this too much to ask? Apparently it is, when lawmakers and administrators race to embrace a plan brimming with secrecy, greed and single-mindedness.

Our mental health system was less than stellar before the "reforms," but seven years of mismanagement by DHHS officials (with the governor's blessing) disfigured it almost beyond recognition. Until the recent resignation of Michael Moseley, there had been no departmental accountability. The usual political response has been, "We cannot go back to look at the past ... It is useless to blame anyone now ... We must keep moving on with the plan no matter what." Politicians figure it is harder to hit a moving target.

The timing of these terminations is suspicious. Why now? We have the cart before the horse. Properly funded community-based services should be in place long before the doors of any mental hospital close in this state. Rewarding failed policymaking lacks sound leadership and practical planning.

The politics of this closure plan should be reviewed until all 100 counties are being served honestly and productively. If you wait until the next legislative session convenes this spring, you lose a golden opportunity to give back to a slice of the population that has been taken advantage of.