MENTAL ILLNESS AND DRUG ADICTION

New York State is about to treat our mentally ill drug addicts very differently.

For too long, treatments have been handled separately, leaving one or the other to deepen and render recover less likely. People struggling both with mental illness and substance abuse don't get treatment for both conditions at the same time. What happens is the opportunity for relapse increases, causing a discontinuation of treatment and, in some cases, suicide.

I bring this up because I've just read about a rethinking on this flaw and the placement of Michael Hogan as New York State's Commissioner of Office of Mental Health.

His mission? To join the efforts of the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services and the Office of Mental Health.

The numbers are staggering. I read that over a million New Yorkers experience both mental illness and substance abuse while in the system.

My friends who work in the Mental Health industry, tell me there are a high number of patients who slip right back to an untenable state after leaving drug rehab simply because their other needs were not addressed.

I know I just posted a piece on the financial mishaps at Benedictine, but both hospitals provide quality services in these fields, although separately. I guess this will change all that.

Michael Hogan said in a recent article; "We have roughly three suicides a day in New York; 90 percent of whom we know from psychological autopsies had a mental illness at the time. And it's not just mental illness, it's very often drinking or drug use."

Gov Paterson recruited Hogan after learning of his years of service in Ohio, Connecticut and serving President Bush in his Mental Health think tank established back in 2002. The idea was to merge agency programs that would suit individual needs with the elimination of the wasted overlap in services. Thus saving money and lives.

When you think about it. Why did this “clash of program” issue linger for so long and where were the health care providers when the continued numbers of failures materialized year after year?

I know a family here in Kingston who lost their son in his 30's because of the befuddled method of treating the two issues separately. It may be a few years, but the system in its current form, was partly to blame. Medicaid simply didn't pay for him to get both kinds of help at once and the family lost a loved one because of it.

I found another quote from Hogan: "If you were going to treat people with both sets of problems, you would have to go to both sets of agencies and get two different licenses, you'd have to have two different waiting rooms. You would even have to have two different bathrooms, for Pete's sake."

Well, no more. The services will be integrated at the 1,200 mental health and substance abuse outpatient treatment centers here in NY. Including the facilities that handled the patient I mentioned.

I applaud Governor Paterson for appointing Michael Hogan and letting this integration of agencies prevail. We all know friends and family members who may have or will suffer through this nightmare at some point, so seeing this come to this point is a relief and hopeful.

BENEDICTINE DETOX FRAUD?

It looks like Kingston is on the map. Once again, it's for the wrong reason.

The NY Attorney General's office has listed Benedictine Hospital as one of seven facilities that committed fraud in billing the state and fed. This would be one of the rare times that the city government or the crime stats weren't the cause of the publicity.

Benedictine Hospital, located in Ward Nine, runs an alcohol and substance-abuse treatment program. One of many throughout the city of Kingston. The AGs office claims they don't have a license to operate such a program, and thus, were not permitted to seek reimbursement from the state.

The Kingston General Hospital has always kept their license up to date and handles hundreds of detox patients every year without significant issues. So how is it that millions in tax dollar funding could be sought through Benedictine's program without someone watching the paperwork?

Granted, an Alderman for the city has no responsibility for the workings of a business, not for profit or Hospital, but this doesnt bode well for the City of Kingston and her reputation in the region. Thousands of people in need look to our healthcare facilities here in Kingston. This is not the best way to stimulate the awareness of their quality service.

If the AG is right, and the Hospital was operating the program without the proper authority to do so...what will the tax payer have to swallow? Almost 400 cases between 2002 and 2005 are the focus of this investigation. We were asked to pay for it once through state funding. We want to know how will the hospital make good on the money spent? The fines alone, will hit us for about a grand per case if found guilty.

On top of that, when will the Doctors and Nurses stop speeding through this residential neighborhood around the hospital?