© 2024 KZYX
redwood forest background
Mendocino County Public Broadcasting
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Local News

Board calls for feasibility study of locating PHF at Whitmore Lane

May 25, 2021 — The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously yesterday to use Measure B funds for a psychiatric health facility, or puff, and to conduct a study on the feasibility of locating it on Whitmore Lane, in the unincorporated fifth district portion of south Ukiah. The county purchased the 26,601 square foot building with two point two million dollars of CARES Act federal funding last August. Repairing the roof appeared on an original document with suggestions for how to use the funds from the PG&E settlement, though now the possibility of a partial demolition is under consideration. CEO Carmel Angelo told the board that the Ranch Proposal, for the county to buy a rural parcel of land and build a multi-purpose mental health care facility, is no longer being pursued.
Operators for the county’s psychiatric health facilities are emerging. The Board of Supervisors has approved a contract with Redwood Community Services to run the critical residential treatment facility that’s being built on Orchard Avenue in Ukiah. It’s expected to be up and running in November.
Dr. Jenine Miller, the head of the county’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Department, wrote in a letter to the board that Telecare Corporation, an Alameda-based mental healthcare organization, had received a conditional award letter to operate the puff. Telecare, according to the letter, is the largest provider of county contracted PHF services in California, with 122 beds.
In a letter to the board, Miller cited operating costs of between $5.7 and $7 million a year, with Medi-Cal, Medicare, realignment, Measure B, and private insurance as funding sources. She wrote that Lake County had expressed an interest in using the facility, which would reduce operating costs. She added that projected costs vary widely due to Medi-Cal payment regulations.
Early in its tenure, the Measure B Citizens Oversight Commission hired Lee Kemper to conduct a study and write a report about mental health needs in Mendocino County.
Ros Liberty, who serves on the Commission, wondered about the long term return on the investment in a PHF. He said that, according to the Kemper report, the county could expect to see a reduction of about 50% in the need for a PHF, provided there were more services available to people in the early stages of a mental health crisis. “I don’t think this conversation is complete without at least looking at the possibility that maybe, instead of a PHF, we spend more money on advanced services before people get into that kind of crisis, per Kemper report recommendation,” he suggested. And Jan McGourty, a former member of the Commission, called in to urge the board to figure out exactly what kind of PHF, and what kind of services, they want. 
If the facility ends up at Whitmore Lane, the building will have to garner a higher rating than it currently has with OSHPD, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, the agency that approves hospital expansions and building plans and analyzes California’s healthcare infrastructure, according the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism. 
As the meeting adjourned with unanimous direction to conduct a feasibility study on locating the puff at Whitmore Lane, Angelo added that she would include regular updates in her CEO report.
 

Local News