[Vision2020] Fw: Idaho Falls Post Register

[Tom Hansen]

ESTO PERPETUA, V-peeps!

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho




On Mon, October 31, 2011 7:44 am, Shirley Ringo wrote:
>
> Visionaries:
>
> The Idaho Legislature's "cost containment" for Medicaid programs and help
> for those with disabilities will prove to be anything but that.
>
> Shirley
>
>
>
>
>
>
>   Idaho's ugly 'new normal'
>
>   Corey Taule
>
>   ----------------------------------------------------------
>
>   Ugly, sad and potentially tragic as it was, the recent shootout between
> local law enforcement and Scott Daniel Parker wasn't surprising. The 911
> call from Parker's mother indicated her son was mentally ill and in
> crisis. Unfortunately, we've been down that road before.
>
>   In September 2010, a mentally ill man shot Ryan Mitchell in the back as
> he left a Pocatello coffee shop. The shooter, Gerald Durk Simpson, had
> been told a few months earlier that because of budget cuts, the state
> could no longer afford to treat his mental illness.
>
>   That jibed with what the State Planning Council on Mental Health told
> Idaho's lawmakers in February 2010. Cutting mental health funding, this
> panel of experts said, would result in three things:
>
>   - More suicides.
>
>   - More violent encounters between the mentally ill and police.
>
>   - More mentally ill folks landing in emergency rooms.
>
>   A check with local law enforcement shows this panel knew what it was
> talking about. Bonneville County Coroner Jonathan Walker said suicides
> and attempts are up, something he attributes directly to a reduction in
> available services.
>
>   Bonneville County Sheriff Paul Wilde noticed his deputies were dealing
> more frequently with the mentally ill. So, he checked the numbers. What
> Wilde discovered was startling. From January to October of 2008,
> officers responded to 61 calls concerning psychiatric episodes or
> suicide attempts. That same time period in 2009 resulted in 118 calls.
> That jumped to 139 last year. So far this year, officers have responded
> to 256 calls.
>
>   Sometimes those calls result in arrests. A severely mentally ill inmate
> needs to be segregated and watched constantly. Often, however, no arrest
> is made. But for their own good, the person with mental illness needs to
> be hospitalized.
>
>   Eight years ago, a busy week for the Bonneville County Prosecutor's
> Office meant handling one or two civil commitment cases. But when Bruce
> Pickett became prosecutor, he noticed civil commitments were on the
> rise. So, he began tracking them. So far this year, Bonneville County
> has averaged nearly four per week.
>
>   Each case must be judged by two state-designated examiners. Because many
> of these folks are indigent, taxpayers bear those costs, plus hospital
> and doctor's fees. The increase in cases means the Behavioral Health
> Center often can't handle them all. Several times this year, deputies
> have transported mentally ill folks who committed no crimes to hospitals
> in Pocatello, Twin Falls and Boise. So, cutting budgets on the front end
> is resulting in more expense -- not to mention a healthy dose of human
> misery -- on the back end.
>
>   Jessica Hill isn't surprised. A licensed social worker, Hill said the
> agency she works for has fewer clients because of budget cuts. The need
> for services, however, has not gone down.
>
>   But Hill sees this from another perspective. She's also an Idaho Falls
> police officer and SWAT team member. Too often, Hill said, officers
> encounter the mentally ill in full crisis mode. Many of these folks,
> Hill said, tell police they no longer qualify for services.
>
>   "I knew this was going to happen," Hill said. "It's not a surprise to me
> whatsoever."
>
>   Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has overseen a massive reduction in state
> government, something he describes as "the new normal."
>
>   Let's be clear, then, about what "the new normal" really looks like to
> those who get to deal with the consequences of the politicians' numbers
> crunching:
>
>   - It looks like Gerald Simpson, a man with no history of violence,
> opening fire on a stranger.
>
>   - It looks like Scott Daniel Parker leaving the house armed with
> automatic weapons and mad as hell.
>
>   - It looks like the guy using his own feces to draw pictures on
> jailhouse walls.
>
>   - It looks like the little old lady who once had a social worker to help
> keep her on medications, but who now must go it alone. Sometimes that
> works. Sometimes a sheriff's deputy wades through months of accumulated
> garbage and animal waste in her living room so he can drive her to the
> only hospital with room to treat her, in Boise.
>
>   Idaho is building a considerable budget surplus. Already, some
> Republicans are saying they want to hand it over to corporations and
> rich folks through income tax cuts.
>
>   The first job of government, however, is to protect its citizenry.
>
>   Clearly, Otter's "new normal" isn't doing that. Lawmakers need to fully
> restore the mental health budget cuts of the past three years.
>
>   Before things really turn ugly.
>
>
>
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"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Author Unknown