“It’s like something out of Dickens”

The big news at the Sonoma Valley Hospital board meeting Wednesday evening was not the cash flow–doing better–or the review of what the $45 million bond measure will buy–unchanged from the previous presentations–but that Santa Rosa’s Memorial Hospital is closing its mental unit, and budget cuts have forced closure of public clinics in Guerneville, Petaluma, and Cloverdale.
“We have already been impacted,” said board chair Dick Kirk, a practicing psychiatrist. “I see patients two and a half days a week in the mental health center, and people in the center are very discouraged and frustrated, and they’re on the front line over there. Half the people who come into primary care have a mental health problem and now, the hospitals don’t know where to send their patients.” According to Kirk, some people say, don’t even try to get them admitted, because it’s impossible to get them in anywhere, others say, no, we need to go on record trying to get them admitted–somewhere.
“This is a crisis that’s already here,” said Kirk. “We need to respectfully press the county to get information as to what the situation is and the county should hold public and private entities accountable to provide mental health service.
”Board member Arnie Riebli wondered, “A good many cases are, I would assume, people who are despondent. They’ve given up. They may be homeless, without a job.” But Kirk said, “Actually, I would like to clear up a mis-perception. Some might think mental illness people on drugs, or the homeless, but in fact, 50 percent of us will suffer major depressive illness at some time in the course of our lifetimes.” Without mental health facilities, the burden on the hospital will be severe. The state cuts will make the situation all the more dire. “The best analogy I can come up with,” said board member Mike Nugent, “is that it’s like something out of Dickens.”