HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-02-28-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Minutes of the Meeting of February 28, 1983
Present Steve Baran, Roberta Black, Stan Finkelstein, Nancy Zarle, Bea Phea;,
Renee Hatten
Mystic Valley Charlotte Alterson, Kay Tiffany, Larry Kernan, Bob Bayliss,
Merton Kahne, Paul Cote, Peggy Scoble
Mystic Valley
Kay Tiffany defined the purpose of representative from Mystic Valley comming to the
meeting
1 Opportunity for the town to know more about the Crisis team
2 Opportunity for the citizen committees to know each other
3 Discuss MVMH concerns regarding the town budget cut and its effect on the
agency
She acknowledged that the agency had been subject to change, with several directors
in the last three years, and it was now a priority of the board to improve communication
with their various towns
Paul pointed out that the agency has had a reduction in public money, but that DMH
policies increase the number of at-risk individuals in the communities The budget
has dictated reducing Crisis team hours and staff, with more time on call rather than
on site
Larry Kernan distributed the recent Quality Assurance Team review from DMH
Steve mentioned that their reporting did not give a specific sense of what happens at
the CIT and exactly what the people do There is a need for both narrative data and
statistical information, which has been analysed For example, Paul had mentioned
deinstitutionalization this evening but not in the reporting Steve also asked about
the unit of analysis what is a screening' , and how do they count multiple interventions
for the same client.
Paul and Peggy described the program, saying that a screening was a phone call, and that
crisis was face-to-face and would encompass the collateral phone call The only count
duplications would be with screening and hospitalization They have a response posture
offering assiistance to the various community residences, day hospital providers, and
case workers at the clinics They also do case conferenceing, and the CIT staff has
additional case loads for the outpatient clinic They would like to add clerical help
and a mental health worker, to help locate hospital beds, which is a large chunk of time
Hospitalizations and evaluations are performed during business hours
The process at intake is that the receptionist sends calls to the CIT, after screening
out routine appointments, and the next person the client talks to is a clinician for
assessment Hospitalizations are usually private, only using Met State if there is
no insurance For adolescents they also use their Alternative Homes program and
sometimes DSS
Kay and Charlotte expressed concern about the negative publicity that had been generated
by the town action Bob and otheres expressed the need for feedback on their reporting
Larry said there was a need for a mechanism for the Human Services Committee to get
to the board, if staff was not supplying adequate information Paul suggested that the
committee report to the Lexington vie-president, but Steve thought that it would not
be ordinary for a policy making group to interfere with line staff
Stan mentioned that he had been discouraged from coming to MVMH board meetings the
board memebrs present all said that he was welcome to attend these meetings and were
sorry thathe had been discouraged in the past by former board members
When asked specifically what they would like done, Kay said there were several things
1 Make a revised recommendation to the Selectmen for $10,000 funding and
publicize this change
2 Make a statement to the Selectmen that communication was now open, and
that problems of the past have been addressed
3 Give a couple of positive quotes to the newspaper
4 Express positive regard in Town Meeting
Bob also requested some written feedback on their reporting !.
After the MVMH people left, there was discussion about the committee's action It was >�
decided to write them a thank you letter for coming and to write feedback on the
reporting It was also decided to not change the recommendation regarding funding, but
to request time at the Selectmen's meeting of March 14, to announce improved communication
Wild Acre Inn
Bea relayed the series of events in an effort to gather information about the Inn Her
initial letter of Dec 27 was answered by their attorney, Philip Mason, who was then
directed to the subcommittee He called Stan, who was out, but when Stan tried to gat
back to him on several occasions, he did not take the call Bobby called the house
manager, and was also referred to Mr Mason, without getting any information about the
program. The committee decided to send a report to the Selectmen saying that they
could not make a recommendation, due to lack of information, and to suggest that the
Selectmen write directly to Mr Mason requesting information on the following
Tour of site
personal interview with administrator in Lexington
rate structure
services provided
staff
insurers providing payment
nature of referrals
average length of stay
Stan felt that the town has not much alternative but to renew, as there is insufficient
cause to close them down This suggestion is an attempt to balance the risk of
painting them into a corner, versus abdicating town licensing obligations
Charitable Trusts
Bea distributed a draft letter to the Board of Selectmen as king them to take action on
the charitable trust recommendation, as Cooperative Elder Services has a time restriction
attached to their challenge grant The draft was approved as submitted
Term of Committee
Steve raised the issue of reappointment, since the committee's term expires in May
He is hoping to have some meetings in the near future to plan other accomplishments,
prior to the expiration, other than budget recommendations Steve said he was
inclined to resign from the chair, and perhaps from the committee altogether This
will be discussed at the next meeting
Next Meetings
Monday, March 14
Monday, MArch 28
Respectfully submitted,
Beatrice Phear