Page 6 - Work_Force_April_2018

Activists: Mental health bed cuts will lessen treatment options
PEARL RIVER — As workers on the front lines of caring for individuals with mental illness, our officers from the Rockland Psychiatric Center Local say the state’s proposal to
cut inpatient beds from state Office
of Mental Health (OMH) facilities will hurt vulnerable New Yorkers at a time when a national conversation on mental health treatment is finally picking up steam.
CSEA Rockland
Psychiatric Center
Local officers
recently visited state Assemblymember
Ellen Jaffee to share
our union’s opposition to the state budget’s proposed cuts and explain their potential effect on adult and children’s inpatient facilities.
“People are not getting the treatment they so badly need,” said Local President Brenda Gamble. “Because we don’t have enough beds, people who need treatment
43.8 million
(about 1 in 5)
from qualified professionals wind up in the emergency room, in jails, or in the community.”
Since 2014, Rockland Psychiatric Center has had 62 beds cut from
facilities for adults and 34 beds cut from the children’s hospital.
Gamble, along
with other Rockland Psychiatric Center Local officers Tyjuana Parker and Sonya Rogers, explained
that cutting OMH inpatient beds doesn’t even meet the goal of taxpayer savings when factoring in the costs of incarceration and emergency treatment for individuals better
served by inpatient treatment. “People with mental illness
are better served receiving the comprehensive services they need, rather than winding up in jail with limited access to doctors and treatment,” Gamble said.
Rockland Psychiatric Center’s catchment area is one example
About 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness in a given year.
Source: National Alliance on Mental Illness. Learn more at nami.org.
From left, Rockland Psychiatric Center Local Vice President Tyjuana Parker, Local President Brenda Gamble and Local Secretary Sonya Rogers address concerns over proposed inpatient bed cuts at state Office of Mental Health facilities to Assemblymember Ellen Jaffee (not shown).
“People with mental illness
are better served receiving the comprehensive services they need, rather than winding up in
jail with limited access to doctors and treatment.”
where consolidation of mental health services has left residents without adequate access to treatment. When the Middletown Psychiatric Center and Hudson River Psychiatric Center campuses closed and the facilities merged with Rockland, the greater Middletown and Poughkeepsie communities lost that local access
to care. Exacerbating that has been cuts in county and non-profit mental health clinics and hospitals.
While the recent uptick in school shootings is raising discussion about available mental health treatment, CSEA leaders have already been trying to raise awareness in their communities.
Parker raised the idea with her pastor of having Mental Health May at First Baptist Church in Spring Valley, and bringing in speakers to educate the congregation about the struggles faced by neighbors struggling with mental illness.
It isn’t uncommon to have individuals in need of treatment in the pews during Sunday services, Parker said.
As this edition was going to press, state lawmakers and the governor were still working on a final state budget agreement.
— Jessica Ladlee
46% of homeless adults staying in shelters live with severe mental illness and/or
substance abuse disorders.
6 The Work Force
April 2018
Southern Region President Billy Riccaldo, right, meets with Assemblymember Ellen Jaffee, left and Jaffee staffer Rita Borst, middle.