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Post by CoffeeShooter on Jul 21, 2011 12:13:52 GMT -5
Too bad. Fortwood's mental health treatment center is gone too. Methinks something is rotten in Denmark. Grant used to shutter mental health treatment program
"State officials are baffled" ... timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jul/21/grant-used-to-shutter-program/The executive director of a mental health treatment center in Chattanooga is planning to use a $193,000 state grant to shut down the center's primary therapeutic program rather than finance it for three more months, records show. TEAM Centers Inc. interim Executive Director Peter Charman said he'll use the grant to stop admitting patients, lay off 22 employees and shut down the diagnostic and evaluation program effective Aug. 15. The grant -- which was meant to continue the program, not stop it -- expires at the end of September. Charman said the shutdown is expensive and "has to occur sometime." State officials are baffled. "I don't recall him at all saying this money would be used to close the program down," said Debbie Payne, assistant commissioner for community services at the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, who helped Charman apply for the grant. "When I was presenting alternative revenue resources, I thought it would help them sustain their program."
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Post by manlyman on Jul 21, 2011 12:36:00 GMT -5
Why does it cost anything to shut someplace down? Just run off the patients, lay off the employees, turn off the lights, and lock the doors. This guy needs to be investigated like the so-called "Multicultural" Chamber of Commerce.
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Post by raphael on Jul 21, 2011 13:30:44 GMT -5
Does this mean more tent cities, homeless and panhandlers on the streets? One of those duh questions eh?
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Post by CoffeeShooter on Jul 22, 2011 6:18:26 GMT -5
Does this mean more tent cities, homeless and panhandlers on the streets? One of those duh questions eh? Most of their work is with children and parents so hopefully no increase in homeless camps. What irks me is how the director seemingly abused the funding. Haslam's supposedly planning to ax all duplicate services but as far as I know this agency wasn't supposed to be on the chopping block. This is close to $200 grand that is just spinning down a drain, never to be seen again. Like MM said, locking the doors shouldn't cost anything. Even severance pay wouldn't warrant this much money.
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Post by Fredo on Jul 22, 2011 13:39:49 GMT -5
Shut down costs can be pretty substantial. Apart from severance expenses ther eare lease terminations, equipment removal, drug and supply inventories and disposal early termination fees to vendors. On and on and on. Getting out of business is sometimes damn near as expensive as getting in.
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Post by emanon on Jul 22, 2011 21:30:09 GMT -5
Watch the news tonight, you might see the hubby graduating from Crisis Intervention training. He said 2 of the news channels were there.
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Post by CoffeeShooter on Jul 23, 2011 9:33:02 GMT -5
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Post by CoffeeShooter on Jul 23, 2011 9:58:05 GMT -5
Shut down costs can be pretty substantial. Apart from severance expenses ther eare lease terminations, equipment removal, drug and supply inventories and disposal early termination fees to vendors. On and on and on. Getting out of business is sometimes damn near as expensive as getting in. Not in this case. This is a therapeutic program. Not a lot of high dollar equipment in use for that particular department. Expensive equipment would be in the evaluation & diagnostic programs -- if they are still in place. The last time I was there, about 15 years ago, the tests were pretty basic like EEG's and a hematology lab. Mid-20th Century stuff. The equipment is couches, desks, files, PT stuff and play toys. I don't think there should be drugs in the center. If by chance there are drugs, by law they must do disposals every 30 days. They might dispense medications but not on a grand scale. Usually in mental health situations the meds are paid for by Medicare, not state programs. Privately insured clients use pharmacies. I'm close with an RN who is part of the program at Fortwood that is shutting down. (Plus my husband worked there for 5 years and I used them when I worked in Crisis for Bradford Health Services.) She's mostly bogged down with paperwork, proper handling of medical records and coming to terms with what is happening there. She's also training clients how to self-medicate since their injection program is ending. Certainly not a $192,000 task that leaves state officials baffled. Fortwood gave them 3 months to shut down the treatment program and crisis center. They actually cut their spending over that period. They'll be g-o-n-e by mid-August. The entire bulk of it has moved to CADAS. Gov. Haslam has targeted waste in the mental health services and assigned a commissioner to handle the problem. This ought to at least raise an eyebrow or two in Nashville.
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Post by Superman on Jul 26, 2011 18:45:42 GMT -5
Watch the news tonight, you might see the hubby graduating from Crisis Intervention training. He said 2 of the news channels were there. I know a LOT of folks that were in that class. Where does hubby work?
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Post by emanon on Jul 27, 2011 8:42:35 GMT -5
CPD, after a hiatus, he went back.
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Post by Superman on Jul 28, 2011 2:00:59 GMT -5
Cool. I may know him!!
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Post by cvhs67 on Jul 28, 2011 6:39:09 GMT -5
Hopefully our sons don't.............. ;D
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Post by CoffeeShooter on Aug 14, 2011 9:20:34 GMT -5
Someone said that the director skipped town. I can't verify this but it appears that after a Facebook campaign to save the center caught the attention of lawmakers there will be an ''investigation''.. www.wrcbtv.com/story/15259606/team-center-closes-despite-parents-lawmakers-hard-work#.TkczvBn9q_s.facebook...Eidson and Sandy Lusk led the grass roots effort to save team centers. They launched a facebook campaign and caught lawmakers' attention.
Their persistence prompted the local delegation, led by Andy Berke in the Tennessee Senate and Joanne Favors in the House, to demand the state find funding for team. The state caved and restored the team center's grant.
"We thought it was over. And we didn't know they were going to say no to the money," says Eidson.
Eidson and Lusk asked TEAM Centers Executive Director Peter Charman how they could help save TEAM. They say he told them to lobby lawmakers. They succeeded.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2011 8:29:34 GMT -5
So now we're the only crisis team serving a 22 county area which now includes all of Hamilton. We got some grant money to hire more crisis people. And, BTW, the CIT officers are GREAT!
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