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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