PNC :: Vice-Speaker Cruz Says DEIS is Deficient
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Guam - Vice-Speaker Cruz says that the military's Draft Environmental Impact Statement is deficient.
Cruz says after holding a roundtable meeting with Department of Mental Health and Social Services officials he found that the DEIS did a poor job of determining the impact the military buildup would have on Guam's Mental Health agency. According to Cruz U.S. military personel and their dependents do use Guam's Department of Mental Health.
Cruz says that Dr. Leightheiser told lawmakers that 20% of the patients at Mental Health are military or their dependents. He says that what's worse is that the DEIS doesn't address this.
The Vice-Speaker says that part of the problem is that many of the people who wrote the DEIS didn't even come to Guam and most of the DEIS was written from the states.
Written by : Clynt Ridgell
Showing posts with label Mental Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mental Health. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Upped demand for social services worries agencies
Upped demand for social services worries agencies
Friday, 05 February 2010 01:01
by Therese Hart | Variety News Staff
THE anticipation of over 35,000 civilians who will make Guam their home once the military buildup has reached steady state by 2014 and the impact of increased demand for services are a serious matter that department heads acknowledged yesterday.
However, officials have yet to quantify the financial impact of providing social services to these newcomers.
“This information is critical because these costs need to be quantified and I was hoping that was what these departments and agencies had. It was very, very disappointing. It’s a lot of information, I understand this,” said Sen. Frank Aguon Jr., chairman of the health committee.
“The problem is that they’re working their daily job, but it might be that they don’t have the capacity or the expertise to be able to go out and get those numbers. If you don’t have the resources to get those critical numbers, then how are we going to know exactly how much it’s going to cost to meet our needs,” he added.
During the committee’s roundtable discussion, heads of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority, the Department of Public Health and Social Services and the Department of Integrated Services for Individuals with Disablities, informed lawmakers that their departments are not ready for the additional influx of people.
However, not all of them could provide numbers as to what their agency would need and what each agency’s plan was to meet the increase.
Each one reiterated the shortages at all levels of critical health care positions such as the lack of doctors, nurses, psychiatrists and psychologists, social workers, case workers, and other health and social care providers that are critical to the daily operations of each department.
Aguon said he had hoped that the presentations would have provided solid information that were quantifiable in terms of how much each department will need to hire, maintain and enhance its department so that the information will be provided to the federal government in which Guam can say it has the numbers and will the government assist in funding these critical needs.
DISID director Rosanne Ada identified buildup-related issues that would greatly affect the services it provides and the direct impact to its disabled consumers.
Ada said the influx of immigrants from neighboring islands and military dependents seeking jobs may reduce the number of job opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
Nevertheless, Ada said that military dependents and families of contract workers may be a source of professional and technical resources for specialized needs of individuals with disabilities such as therapeutic foster parents, teachers, nurses, therapists, job coaches and language interpreters.
Ada did not know if the military will give seeing impaired vendors first priority to operate vending shops on military property under the Randolph-Sheppard Act, or whether the military dining and recreational facilities would train and hire individuals with disabilities.
Another issue is that DISID has not had the chance to establish credible policies and procedures and standards of care that are anywhere near the Department of Defense standard of care and so DISID stands at risk of providing services that may be perceived by the military as sub-standard care, said Dr. Zeni Natividad.
Friday, 05 February 2010 01:01
by Therese Hart | Variety News Staff
THE anticipation of over 35,000 civilians who will make Guam their home once the military buildup has reached steady state by 2014 and the impact of increased demand for services are a serious matter that department heads acknowledged yesterday.
However, officials have yet to quantify the financial impact of providing social services to these newcomers.
“This information is critical because these costs need to be quantified and I was hoping that was what these departments and agencies had. It was very, very disappointing. It’s a lot of information, I understand this,” said Sen. Frank Aguon Jr., chairman of the health committee.
“The problem is that they’re working their daily job, but it might be that they don’t have the capacity or the expertise to be able to go out and get those numbers. If you don’t have the resources to get those critical numbers, then how are we going to know exactly how much it’s going to cost to meet our needs,” he added.
During the committee’s roundtable discussion, heads of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority, the Department of Public Health and Social Services and the Department of Integrated Services for Individuals with Disablities, informed lawmakers that their departments are not ready for the additional influx of people.
However, not all of them could provide numbers as to what their agency would need and what each agency’s plan was to meet the increase.
Each one reiterated the shortages at all levels of critical health care positions such as the lack of doctors, nurses, psychiatrists and psychologists, social workers, case workers, and other health and social care providers that are critical to the daily operations of each department.
Aguon said he had hoped that the presentations would have provided solid information that were quantifiable in terms of how much each department will need to hire, maintain and enhance its department so that the information will be provided to the federal government in which Guam can say it has the numbers and will the government assist in funding these critical needs.
DISID director Rosanne Ada identified buildup-related issues that would greatly affect the services it provides and the direct impact to its disabled consumers.
Ada said the influx of immigrants from neighboring islands and military dependents seeking jobs may reduce the number of job opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
Nevertheless, Ada said that military dependents and families of contract workers may be a source of professional and technical resources for specialized needs of individuals with disabilities such as therapeutic foster parents, teachers, nurses, therapists, job coaches and language interpreters.
Ada did not know if the military will give seeing impaired vendors first priority to operate vending shops on military property under the Randolph-Sheppard Act, or whether the military dining and recreational facilities would train and hire individuals with disabilities.
Another issue is that DISID has not had the chance to establish credible policies and procedures and standards of care that are anywhere near the Department of Defense standard of care and so DISID stands at risk of providing services that may be perceived by the military as sub-standard care, said Dr. Zeni Natividad.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Buildup's healthcare impacts discussed
Buildup's healthcare impacts discussed
Posted: Feb 03, 2010 10:11 PM PST
by Janjeera Hail
Guam - Serious concerns were raised at this morning's roundtable meeting as government and healthcare leaders met to discuss how the military buildup will impact healthcare in the coming years. This morning representatives from the island's major health departments met with the 30th Guam Legislature's Health Committee to discuss their concerns on how the military buildup will impact care on Guam.
Key staff from DISID, Mental Health, Public Health and the Guam Memorial Hospital spoke about the challenges that would come with the buildup, particularly that Guam is already struggling for resources based on the current demand for services. GMH Administrator Peter John Camacho said, "We think about the buildup and some of that is already happening, we're faced with that every day now. And so we're looking at how we can adjust to meet those needs now and still looking ahead to 2014."
In order to serve a growing population, the island will need to attract more qualified healthcare professionals. But according to Public Health Chief Public Health Officer Marylou Loualhati, even the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is underestimating just how many will be needed and Guam is already faces challenges with recruiting.
"It has to do with compensation. We have a difficult time recruiting even though we're considered and classified as a health professional shortage area we still do not have the number of doctors that we need to have in our community health centers," she said.
Mental Health Clinical Administrator Dr. Andrea Leitheiser says that although the military has its own health services, the buildup will still be a strain on her agency because there may also be a large number of servicemen coming to Mental Health to avoid alerting their commanding officers. Like her colleagues at other agencies, she felt that the DEIS just didn't have enough information.
She said, "My personal opinion no. we do need more utilization rates. We need to know for the incoming serviceman just what occurred. What were the diagnosis, what was the treatment, what was the outcome. We also need to know what they did in the community. We also need to know about the debriefing."
Today's roundtable emphasized a lot of the existing concerns associated with healthcare and the military buildup, but also stressed the importance of the need for more information.
Posted: Feb 03, 2010 10:11 PM PST
by Janjeera Hail
Guam - Serious concerns were raised at this morning's roundtable meeting as government and healthcare leaders met to discuss how the military buildup will impact healthcare in the coming years. This morning representatives from the island's major health departments met with the 30th Guam Legislature's Health Committee to discuss their concerns on how the military buildup will impact care on Guam.
Key staff from DISID, Mental Health, Public Health and the Guam Memorial Hospital spoke about the challenges that would come with the buildup, particularly that Guam is already struggling for resources based on the current demand for services. GMH Administrator Peter John Camacho said, "We think about the buildup and some of that is already happening, we're faced with that every day now. And so we're looking at how we can adjust to meet those needs now and still looking ahead to 2014."
In order to serve a growing population, the island will need to attract more qualified healthcare professionals. But according to Public Health Chief Public Health Officer Marylou Loualhati, even the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is underestimating just how many will be needed and Guam is already faces challenges with recruiting.
"It has to do with compensation. We have a difficult time recruiting even though we're considered and classified as a health professional shortage area we still do not have the number of doctors that we need to have in our community health centers," she said.
Mental Health Clinical Administrator Dr. Andrea Leitheiser says that although the military has its own health services, the buildup will still be a strain on her agency because there may also be a large number of servicemen coming to Mental Health to avoid alerting their commanding officers. Like her colleagues at other agencies, she felt that the DEIS just didn't have enough information.
She said, "My personal opinion no. we do need more utilization rates. We need to know for the incoming serviceman just what occurred. What were the diagnosis, what was the treatment, what was the outcome. We also need to know what they did in the community. We also need to know about the debriefing."
Today's roundtable emphasized a lot of the existing concerns associated with healthcare and the military buildup, but also stressed the importance of the need for more information.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Receiver May Take DMHSA
Receiver may take DMHSA: Parties file motion with federal court
By Dionesis Tamondong • Pacific Daily News • September 19, 2009
A motion filed last night on behalf of three people with disabilities asks the District Court of Guam to remove local government authority over providing federally required services to people with disabilities and that the court appoint a receiver to take over.
The motion for the appointment of a federal receiver who will have powers over the Guam Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse follows years of the local government's failure to improve services to people with mental health and developmental disabilities, according to court papers filed yesterday.
The local government, according to the court filing, has shown a "cycle of failure" to live up to a 7-year-old federal court order to improve mental health services on the island.
"Plaintiffs confess that they bought into this charade more than once; the soothing promises of 'we're all good people who want the same thing for the consumers' had a siren sound which time and again convinced plaintiffs that the defendants really did mean what they said, and that defendants would finally take decisive action to comply with the (Amended Permanent Injuction),'" according to the motion for appointment of a receiver.
"Plaintiffs can no longer indulge this fantasy. What has long been abundantly clear, and what can no longer be ignored, is that defendants lack the leadership or the will to bring themselves into compliance with the API. Further negotiations, further extensions and further accommodations of Defendants' failure to obey the API will be fruitless exercises which will fail to break the pattern of non-compliance. Not even the filing of yet another motion to have the defendants held in contempt is likely to bring about the changes so urgently needed," according to the court filing.
If District Court Judge Consuelo Marshall grants the Justice Department's motion, the mental health agency would be the second government of Guam department to be placed under federal receivership.
District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood in March last year took trash management away from the local government and placed it in under the authority of a court-appointed receiver, after GovGuam continuously failed to meet court-ordered deadlines.
The mental health agency and the Department of Integrated Services for Individuals with Disabilities have been under a permanent injunction since 2004 to improve services and facilities for people with mental and developmental disabilities. The order follows a 2001 lawsuit filed against the government of Guam for failure to provide adequate mental health services.
After a status conference in July, Marshall ruled GovGuam in contempt for failing to meet certain deadlines and requirements in improving mental health services. She also raised the possibility of placing the mental health agency in receivership.
In a report filed yesterday to supplement their August status report, the court monitors listed several examples of continuing failures and lack of planning by Mental Health.
Several contracts with organizations that manage and operate the agency's residential group homes are still issued on an emergency month-to-month basis because Mental Health has failed to issue new requests for proposals for those services.
This arrangement has led to delayed payments to the service providers, and prevents mental health from being able to choose the best bidder, the report stated.
The report cites a comment from a Bureau of Budget and Management Research analyst that of all the GovGuam line agencies, "financial planning at DMHSA was undoubtedly the worst."
Mental health has prior obligations dating back to 1999 and totaling more than $2.3 million. The agency is also facing a shortfall of about $1.4 million for this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. And $700,000 of that shortfall represents payroll, the report stated.
Some of Mental Health's debts have prompted some vendors to stop providing services to the agency.
The Guam Memorial Hospital, which is owed more than $1.1 million for supplies and meals, will no longer provide hot meals to patients within Mental Health's Adult Inpatient Unit. "Consumers are relegated to eating sandwiches ad nauseam," the monitors said.
Some of the island's pharmacies have refused to provide services to the department because of a history of late payments, according to the report.
The federal court-appointed two monitors, attorney James Casey and clinical psychologist James Kiffer, are required to submit monthly reports on GovGuam's status effort -- or lack of it -- to improve its mental health services.
By Dionesis Tamondong • Pacific Daily News • September 19, 2009
A motion filed last night on behalf of three people with disabilities asks the District Court of Guam to remove local government authority over providing federally required services to people with disabilities and that the court appoint a receiver to take over.
The motion for the appointment of a federal receiver who will have powers over the Guam Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse follows years of the local government's failure to improve services to people with mental health and developmental disabilities, according to court papers filed yesterday.
The local government, according to the court filing, has shown a "cycle of failure" to live up to a 7-year-old federal court order to improve mental health services on the island.
"Plaintiffs confess that they bought into this charade more than once; the soothing promises of 'we're all good people who want the same thing for the consumers' had a siren sound which time and again convinced plaintiffs that the defendants really did mean what they said, and that defendants would finally take decisive action to comply with the (Amended Permanent Injuction),'" according to the motion for appointment of a receiver.
"Plaintiffs can no longer indulge this fantasy. What has long been abundantly clear, and what can no longer be ignored, is that defendants lack the leadership or the will to bring themselves into compliance with the API. Further negotiations, further extensions and further accommodations of Defendants' failure to obey the API will be fruitless exercises which will fail to break the pattern of non-compliance. Not even the filing of yet another motion to have the defendants held in contempt is likely to bring about the changes so urgently needed," according to the court filing.
If District Court Judge Consuelo Marshall grants the Justice Department's motion, the mental health agency would be the second government of Guam department to be placed under federal receivership.
District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood in March last year took trash management away from the local government and placed it in under the authority of a court-appointed receiver, after GovGuam continuously failed to meet court-ordered deadlines.
The mental health agency and the Department of Integrated Services for Individuals with Disabilities have been under a permanent injunction since 2004 to improve services and facilities for people with mental and developmental disabilities. The order follows a 2001 lawsuit filed against the government of Guam for failure to provide adequate mental health services.
After a status conference in July, Marshall ruled GovGuam in contempt for failing to meet certain deadlines and requirements in improving mental health services. She also raised the possibility of placing the mental health agency in receivership.
In a report filed yesterday to supplement their August status report, the court monitors listed several examples of continuing failures and lack of planning by Mental Health.
Several contracts with organizations that manage and operate the agency's residential group homes are still issued on an emergency month-to-month basis because Mental Health has failed to issue new requests for proposals for those services.
This arrangement has led to delayed payments to the service providers, and prevents mental health from being able to choose the best bidder, the report stated.
The report cites a comment from a Bureau of Budget and Management Research analyst that of all the GovGuam line agencies, "financial planning at DMHSA was undoubtedly the worst."
Mental health has prior obligations dating back to 1999 and totaling more than $2.3 million. The agency is also facing a shortfall of about $1.4 million for this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. And $700,000 of that shortfall represents payroll, the report stated.
Some of Mental Health's debts have prompted some vendors to stop providing services to the agency.
The Guam Memorial Hospital, which is owed more than $1.1 million for supplies and meals, will no longer provide hot meals to patients within Mental Health's Adult Inpatient Unit. "Consumers are relegated to eating sandwiches ad nauseam," the monitors said.
Some of the island's pharmacies have refused to provide services to the department because of a history of late payments, according to the report.
The federal court-appointed two monitors, attorney James Casey and clinical psychologist James Kiffer, are required to submit monthly reports on GovGuam's status effort -- or lack of it -- to improve its mental health services.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Unlicensed Doctors at DMHSA
Medical examiners board investigating physician practicing without license
By Janjeera Hail
KUAM
Published Aug 28, 2009
It's not the kind of news anyone wants to hear a doctor practicing without a license. That's apparently what's under investigation when it comes to a physician recently hired at the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Already facing a mountain of legal troubles that could lead to federal receivership, the agency was hit with another blow last week when a complaint was filed with the Guam Medical Examiners Board regarding psychiatrist Dr. Ione DeJesus' lack of a proper license to practice.
Acting director Jason Tedtaotao said that DeJesus arrived on Guam earlier this month, saying the physician, "Provides psychiatric services, medical services in the mental health area." Dr. Patrick Santos sits on the Guam Board of Medical Examiners and has been assigned to the subcommittee in charge of investigating the complaint against Dr. DeJesus. He says that the physician, who is already licensed in the state of New York, is qualified.
But the issue stems from the type of license that she was applying for here on Guam.
Santos explained, "But apparently some minor items were missing and until we get that we cannot issue a license yet, but we could have easily issued a temporary license, which is good for six months. But unfortunately, the Department of Mental Health wanted a full licensure."
Dr. Santos along with the investigatory committee will continue to review the complaint and hope to have the issue resolved by next week's board meeting. No word yet on what the repercussions could be, but this ordeal has highlighted shortcoming within the administration at Mental Health.
"It sheds some credibility issues on the administration at Mental Health," noted Santos. "I'm sure they were aware of licensing procedures and protocols, and unfortunately maybe they should have gotten a temporary license first."
By Janjeera Hail
KUAM
Published Aug 28, 2009
It's not the kind of news anyone wants to hear a doctor practicing without a license. That's apparently what's under investigation when it comes to a physician recently hired at the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Already facing a mountain of legal troubles that could lead to federal receivership, the agency was hit with another blow last week when a complaint was filed with the Guam Medical Examiners Board regarding psychiatrist Dr. Ione DeJesus' lack of a proper license to practice.
Acting director Jason Tedtaotao said that DeJesus arrived on Guam earlier this month, saying the physician, "Provides psychiatric services, medical services in the mental health area." Dr. Patrick Santos sits on the Guam Board of Medical Examiners and has been assigned to the subcommittee in charge of investigating the complaint against Dr. DeJesus. He says that the physician, who is already licensed in the state of New York, is qualified.
But the issue stems from the type of license that she was applying for here on Guam.
Santos explained, "But apparently some minor items were missing and until we get that we cannot issue a license yet, but we could have easily issued a temporary license, which is good for six months. But unfortunately, the Department of Mental Health wanted a full licensure."
Dr. Santos along with the investigatory committee will continue to review the complaint and hope to have the issue resolved by next week's board meeting. No word yet on what the repercussions could be, but this ordeal has highlighted shortcoming within the administration at Mental Health.
"It sheds some credibility issues on the administration at Mental Health," noted Santos. "I'm sure they were aware of licensing procedures and protocols, and unfortunately maybe they should have gotten a temporary license first."
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