from the Portland Mercury, January 24, 2008

County Boss Soul Searches on Mental Health Center

County Chair Ted Wheeler met with 60 mental health advocates last week to confess his disappointment over the county’s ongoing failure to reopen Portland’s sub-acute facility for people in mental health crisis.

Since the closure of the crisis triage center in 2003, cops have had no option but to transport people in such crises to jail or, if they’ve hurt themselves, to an emergency room.

Reopening a sub-acute facility was the number-one recommendation of Mayor Tom Potter’s Mental Health/Public Safety initiative formed in the fall of 2006, following the death in police custody of James Philip Chasse Jr., a 42-year-old schizophrenic, in September of that year.

Since then, Potter has funded crisis intervention training for all the city’s police officers to the tune of $500,000, and Police Chief Rosie Sizer has overhauled the cops’ use-of-force policies to hold officers more accountable over allegations of excessive force. Meanwhile Wheeler, who took over from Diane Linn as county chair in early 2007, hasn’t held up the county’s end of the public safety bargain.

Chasse’s parents sat intently in row six of a 60-strong audience last Friday evening, January 18, at the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral on NW 19th. Wheeler, half-protected by a modest wooden lectern, faced the crowd, which included three county court judges, the head of the state’s psychiatric review board, and the heads of two local mental health treatment centers.

He began by justifying his decision last October to vote against a proposal to fund the sub-acute facility by diverting $4 million of county subsidies from Gresham, County Commissioner Lisa Naito’s idea ["Less Than a Crisis?" News, Nov 1]. Wheeler said the Gresham money is used to fund essential police services there, and that he did not believe in solving one crisis by creating another.

He also announced plans for an experimental, county-funded Mental Health Court, beginning some time in late spring. The court, which was explained to the group by Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Julie Frantz, will aim to offer a choice of treatment to those with psychiatric needs who are caught up in the criminal justice system.

In the first year, the Mental Health Court aims to divert up to 100 people into treatment, according to the county’s director of mental health and addiction services, Karl Brimner. Brimner insisted the treatment services for those people are funded and ready to go, although he faced doubt from the audience about the on-ground availability of those services.

Then the tough questions started. Wheeler was asked how satisfied he is with the state of mental health services in Multnomah County, right now. He responded by mentioning the county’s new crisis hotline—a 24-hour phone service for people to call a mental health responder if they’re worried about someone in crisis. But he confessed to frustration with the state legislature’s refusal last spring to fund the ongoing cost of running the sub-acute center to the tune of $3 million a year—despite his promise to build it with $2 million of one-time county money.

Wheeler was asked when the sub-acute center would be open.

“I think it would be irresponsible to state a date,” he said.

He was asked whether he would have failed as county commissioner if the center does not open by the time he’s up for reelection in 2010.

“No, I don’t think I’ll have failed as county chair,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of talking about the importance of this center, but it’s not just about me. If we’re still talking in three years about how we’re going to fund the biggest gap in mental health, that’s not just a gap for me, it’s a failure for the entire community. There’s going to be a lot of disappointment to go around.”

While continuing to lobby Salem for the money to run the center—alongside mental health advocates and representatives from Washington and Clackamas Counties—Wheeler is also considering putting a public safety levy on Portlanders’ election ballots this November.

Such a tax would require three votes from Wheeler’s board of county commissioners and a public hearings process. Voters approved similar levies for schools and libraries last May, but his office will delay a decision on the new tax until late spring.

“Multnomah County voters have shown a willingness to support well-planned ideas,” says Wheeler’s communications director, Rhys Scholes. “I think that a lot of people understand the depth of this problem.”

In the meantime, there’s still no sub-acute center, but advocates are hopeful.

“Wheeler is ambitious, optimistic, dynamic, and has a strong personality,” said Jason Renaud of the Mental Health Association of Portland, after the meeting. “The question is, can he get enough people on the bus with him to Salem to make the difference?”

Finding Normal, a documentary film by Brian Lindstrom, will be shown at City Hall on Friday, February 1 at 1 PM. The showing is free.

Coming straight out of prison or detox, recovering addicts struggle to stay clean and sober in the city of Portland. Thanks to the Recovery Mentor program of Central City Concern, some will clean up their lives, but as this candidly frank documentary reveals, it is not an easy process.

Local filmmaker Brian Lindstrom is as uncompromising in his study of recovery as are the mentors who have rebuilt their lives and are now committed to helping others. What unfolds are intimate portraits of human triumph and failure.

Review at – Brian Lindstrom’s Finding Normal
About Brian at – Brian Lindstrom official web site
Interview at – The Plugg.com

From AP.com, January 16 2008

The U.S. Department of Justice has found numerous civil rights violations of patients at the Oregon State Hospital.

In a report released Wednesday, federal investigators listed inadequate conditions and practices at the mental hospital ranging from life-threatening use of restraints to widespread patient-on-patient assault.

Federal law entitles patients to certain standards of care.

State health officials say many improvements have been made since the investigation took place in 2006, but acknowledged problems still exist.

“The conditions reported on … are completely unacceptable,” said Dr. Bruce Goldberg, director of Oregon’s Department of Human Services. “It’s unacceptable as a state and its unacceptable for us as a state hospital for the health and well-being of our patients.”

The Oregon State Hospital is the state’s primary psychiatric facility for adults, which has a main hospital in Salem and other satellite facilities.

Officials found violations in Salem and at its smaller Portland campus, which is used for psychiatric rehabilitation.

Some of the cases highlighted in the 48-page report include:

Nearly 400 cases of patient-against-patient assault over one year.

Infection control issues such mice in rooms, deaths from pneumonia and outbreaks of norovirus and scabies.

Patients injuring themselves, including multiple suicide attempts, while under staff observation.

Failure to follow common standards of care: A patient with a disorder that causes excessive thirst was left at the water fountain and gained 13 pounds in water weight in one day.

Patients being put in seclusion indefinitely: One patient had been in seclusion for a year with no other treatment when investigators arrived.

Other issues included improper medication, failure to diagnose mental health conditions, improper use of restraints, nurses working excessive overtime and patients waiting for discharge for more than a year after being approved.

The report sets out recommended changes but does not set timelines to complete them. It is the latest in a series of critical looks at the hospital. Multiple state-commissioned reports found major health and safety dangers there, primarily from the crumbling century-old facility in Salem. It was the setting for the 1975 film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

The Oregon Legislature last year authorized $458 million to build two new state-operated hospitals by 2013: a 620-bed hospital in Salem and 360-bed facility in Junction City. The hospital also hired a new chief medical officer and additional staff.

“It’s not the same hospital today that it was in 2006,” Goldberg said.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Ted Kulongoski said the governor takes the findings seriously but is pleased with progress made since the 2006 investigation.

Others were more dismayed by the report.

“It’s the worst report I’ve read in my entire life,” said Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem. “Every word was something else that was terrible. No standards, no progress … it goes on and on.”

Courtney said he will create a a legislative oversight committee to monitor progress toward compliance with the Department of Justice’s recommendations.

“In my opinion, this is the number one issue for Oregonians today,” he said.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Oregon said it wants a comprehensive review of the entire mental health system so the 2009 Legislature will know how to respond.

The Department of Human Services says it will request additional positions from the to improve patient care and safety.

“This is a symptom of years of neglect to our entire mental health system,” Goldberg said.

To read a synopsis of the report, click here.

To read the full report, click here.

For more information on the hospital, click here.

Multnomah County Commission Chair Ted Wheeler has agreed to speak at an open public meeting about County mental health services, and about his decision to vote against a proposal to create a psychiatric emergency center.

The creation of such a center was a key recommendation of the Mental Health / Public Safety Initiative launched by Portland Mayor Tom Potter after the death of James Chasse while in custody of the Portland police and the Multnomah County jail. Wheeler was a member of the Initiative’s panel.

For recent news about the proposed psychiatric emergency center – CLICK HERE

The open public meeting will be January 18 at 6 PM at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

For directions to Trinity – CLICK HERE

From Salem Statesman Journal, December 22, 2008

Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility

Three Oregon Youth Authority staff members sustained minor injuries during an escape attempt by eight girls at Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility in Albany early Sunday.

The girls, armed with homemade weapons, attacked the staff members and overpowered them shortly after midnight, authority spokeswoman Perrin Damon said.

The girls, ages 13 to 17, then left their dormitory and ran into a secure central recreation yard, where they found themselves trapped.

During the escape attempt, facility staff members called 9-1-1. Officers with Albany police and Linn County Sheriff’s Office responded.

The girls refused to return to their dormitory peacefully, so the officers and facility staffers escorted them to cells.

Two of the three staff members were transported by ambulance to Samaritan Albany General Hospital, while the third sought medical attention by the end of his shift. All were treated and released.

Oregon State Police and Oregon Youth Authority are investigating, Damon said.

From the Portland Mercury, December 23, 2008

Officer Pandora’s Boxes – Attorneys Want Cop’s Secret List Documents

Attorneys for three people believed to be on Portland’s controversial secret list of downtown offenders are in a legal fight with the city to turn over the contents of 20 cardboard boxes containing information about the secret list program.

The contents of the boxes were allegedly compiled by Old Town cop Jeff Myers, who—at least earlier in the year—kept a copy of the secret list in the front pocket of his police uniform.

Defense Attorneys Spencer Hahn, Brian Schmonsees, and Lisa Pardini filed subpoenas for the information on behalf of their clients earlier this year. Deputy District Attorney David Hannon and Deputy City Attorney Ellen Osoinach are fighting the subpoenas.

Hahn, Schmonsees, and Pardini’s clients have all been charged with felonies instead of standard misdemeanors for drug possession as a result, it is presumed, of being on the list. The list is part of the city’s controversial Neighborhood Livability Crime Enforcement Program, which effectively replaced the city’s Drug-Free Zones after Mayor Tom Potter abolished them in September 2007.

The defense attorneys say their reasons for asking for the boxes are clear: “I’ve found similarly situated defendants in my office charged with similar crimes to my client [who's allegedly on the secret list], who were afforded misdemeanor treatment for their drug possession charge,” says Schmonsees. “I do not understand the county’s rationale for treating my client differently.”

Nevertheless, attorneys Hannon and Osoinach are now arguing that while the boxes contain information about the program, they aren’t legally obliged to turn them over, because they have a duty to protect the confidentiality of the people on the secret list.

“If they’re concerned about privacy, they can redact confidential information and we can argue about that later,” says Hahn. “But the confidentiality argument seems disingenuous at best, since the state identifies those on the list each time it charges certain drug possession charges as felonies, instead of as misdemeanors.”

Hannon and Osoinach also argue that unless the defense attorneys can say what, precisely, is in the boxes that they want access to, then their subpoena is overly broad.

“But the idea that you can identify particular documents without having seen the contents of the boxes is ridiculous,” says Hahn. “It’s the kind of crap the tobacco companies were pulling in the litigation of the smoking lawsuits.”

Attorneys for both sides are now waiting for a hearing before Judge Dale Koch in early January, to decide whether or not the information in the boxes will ever be divulged to the public.

“The fact that they’re not disclosing all the records to the public and to the media is troubling, to say the least,” says Hahn.

Officer Myers is on vacation until January 11. Hannon and Osoinach declined to comment.