In the news...

MENTAL HEALTH:
Nearly 50 mental health workers gathered on the steps of Dorothea Dix Hospital Friday to protest working conditions at North Carolina's four psychiatric hospitals, saying understaffing, forced overtime and low wages combine to make conditions unsafe. "People are tired," said Larsene Taylor, a health care technician at Cherry Hospital and union chairwoman. "People are burning out, and the ones with the most experience are just leaving." Safety is a real issue, said Donna Earley, a health care technician at Broughton Hospital. "There have been times I've felt unsafe there," Earley said. "Sometimes there just aren't enough people." People who are tending to patients one-on-one are supposed to be relieved every two hours, but that doesn't happen, Earley said. Health care technicians and certified nurse assistants have an average yearly salary of a little more than $20,000, said Laura White, team leader for state hospitals with the N.C. Division of Mental Heath, Developmental Disability and Substance Abuse Services. "We would like to see health care techs make more, but there are a lot of them, and even a small increase would be very expensive," she said.

Friday's protest was organized by the N.C. Public Service Workers Union, which represents the state's public sector workers, including those at state psychiatric hospitals. They plan to hold more rallies across the state to raise awareness about the issue. Representatives from the union met with Gov. Mike Easley on Friday. North Carolina is one of two states where public employees are prohibited by law from collective bargaining, said union organizer Dante Strobino; Virginia is the other. Workers can unionize and hold meetings, but there is no union contract. "We're working to get that changed," Strobino said. (Leslie Boyd, ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES, 4/26/08).

MENTAL HEALTH AGENCIES:
Currituck County commissioners have adopted a resolution opposing Gov. Mike Easley's proposal to give the state control of the 25 regional mental health agencies across North Carolina. "Everybody's trying to invent a better mousetrap," said Currituck Commissioner Owen Etheridge. "But when you have a successful delivery system, if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Etheridge is Currituck's representative on the board of directors for the Albemarle Mental Health Center, which manages mental health services in 10 counties. Last month, Easley asked lawmakers to give Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dempsey Benton "clear authority" over the agencies. Easley also wants to consolidate the number of mental health agencies to ensure consistency of care. He said last month that the changes would save money and make the programs more accountable.

A recent report conducted for DHHS recommended consolidating the existing 25 regional mental health agencies into fewer than 10, and transferring control and oversight of mental health services to a centralized agency. According to a grading system used in the report, AMHC would have to merge into a larger regional entity that would likely have its headquarters far from Elizabeth City, where it now is based. If that were to happen, AMHC attorney John Morrison said, the cost to provide mental health care in the region could rise from $1 per capita to as much as $20 per capita. Plus, patients in the 10-county AMHC region would likely have to drive much farther to obtain their services, and there are no guarantees that the quality would be as good, Morrison said.
The resolution that Currituck commissioners approved criticizes Easley's proposal for not "adequately" consulting local officials before it was finalized. It also is critical of other state efforts thus far to reform mental health care. "State-imposed mental health reform to date has adversely impacted the delivery of mental health services and the cost of these services, and therefore has adversely impacted the quality of life of our residents," the resolution states. The resolution Currituck approved hasn't yet been considered by other counties in the region, managers for Camden, Chowan and Pasquotank said last week. (Bob Montgomery, THE DAILY ADVANCE, 4/27/08).