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Schumer Reveals Plan to Secure Funding For New Mental Health Building in Cortland County
Cortland County and City of Cortland officials convened at the corner of Port Watson and Pendleton Street on Friday for an announcement by United States Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York). Schumer announced that he is working to secure federal funding for a new state-of-the-art building for the Cortland County Mental Health Department, giving a current vacant building between Pendleton and Port Watson Street a facelift. Nearly $5 million in federal funding is planned to be put aside for the project, Schumer said. Of those $5 million for the project’s funding, $2 million came from the American Rescue Plan. The rest of the funding, Schumer added, is $2.995 million, which is “stuck in limbo” and needs approval for the 2023 fiscal year spending bill. Read more here.
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Plan Tests Tense Relationship Between N.Y.P.D. and Mentally Ill People
Each day, New York City’s 911 system is inundated with calls reporting problems with a “possible E.D.P.” — an emotionally disturbed person. The three letters are promptly relayed over police radios hundred of times a day, more than 100,000 times a year. Dealing with mentally ill people has long been a vexing and volatile aspect of patrolling the city. Unpredictable encounters can quickly escalate from noisy hassles into explosive situations in which officers may be injured and civilians may be restrained or even shot. Now these confrontations seem poised to proliferate. Read more here.
Related: NYC EMS workers say forcing more involuntary care could increase assaults against first responders
Nurses Give Poor Prognosis to Adams Psych Plan, Citing Staff Shortages
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How Hospitals Respond When Mentally Ill People Come in From the Streets
The most famous homeless person in New York in 1987 went by the name Billie Boggs. For a time, she lived on the sidewalk at 65th Street and Second Avenue, where she lay on an air vent for warmth and screamed racial epithets at passers-by. She was observed barefoot in winter and sometimes twirled an umbrella to keep people at a distance. Ms. Boggs, whose real name was Joyce Brown, was taken to Bellevue after Mayor Ed Koch announced a plan to clear the sidewalks of homeless people with severe mental illness. Her initial treatment involved a shot of Haldol, an antipsychotic drug. When she demanded to be released, she emerged as a test case exploring the limits of involuntary psychiatric hospitalizations. Read more here.
Related: What forced hospitalization feels like in New York City, as Mayor Adams pushes for more
35 Years of Efforts to Address Mental Illness on New York Streets
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Biden Administration Unveils Dashboard to Track Nonfatal Drug Overdoses
The Biden administration is rolling out a new tool meant to help prevent drug deaths: a nationwide database that tracks nonfatal overdoses. The dashboard, known as the Non-Fatal Opioid Overdose Surveillance Tracker, will offer fresh insights about overdose rates, the drug supply, and the effectiveness of local emergency response efforts, the White House said. If effective, the tool could help fill a major information gap. In most of the country, it isn’t known exactly how many people experience drug overdoses but survive — making it difficult to steer resources to specific cities or neighborhoods that need them most.
Read more here.
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Deaths From Substance Abuse Rose Sharply Among Older Americans in 2020
Deaths due to substance abuse, particularly of alcohol and opioids, rose sharply among older Americans in 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, as lockdowns disrupted routines and isolation and fear spread, federal health researchers reported last week. Alcohol and opioid deaths remained far less common among older people than among those middled-aged and younger, and rates had been rising in all groups for years. But the pronounced uptick — another data point in the long list of pandemic miseries — surprised government researchers. Read more here.
Related: Addiction among older adults is on the rise but NY wants to reverse that trend
Older adults face Medicare hurdles for substance use treatment
Creating Robust Provider Networks to Support Older Adults and People with Disabilities: Considerations for Medicaid Health Plans in California and Nationwide
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Addiction Treatment Proponents Urge Rural Clinicians to Pitch In by Prescribing Medication
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — Andrea Storjohann is glad to see that she’s becoming less of a rarity in rural America.
The nurse practitioner prescribes medication to dozens of patients trying to recover from addiction to heroin or opioid painkillers. The general-practice clinic where she works, housed in a repurposed supermarket building, has no signs designating it as a place for people to seek treatment for drug addiction, which is how Storjohann wants it. “You could be coming here for OB-GYN care. You could be coming here for a sore throat. You could be coming here for any number of reasons,” and no one in the waiting room would know the difference, she said. Privacy is an important part of the treatment. And so is the medication Storjohann prescribes: buprenorphine, which staves off cravings and prevents withdrawal symptoms for people who have stopped misusing opioid drugs. Read more here.
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New York Lawmakers Weigh How to Strengthen Mental Health Services on College Campuses
The upheaval of the last two and a half years have added to the anxieties of college students — already facing a stressful time as they leave home and take their first steps into adulthood. The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a light on the long-term effects of isolation and uncertainty. And it's made access to on-campus services at colleges vital for mental health.
"Some of them are becoming independent for the first time, some of them have had significant losses in their families because of the pandemic and now we're asking them to be successful in school," said Office of Mental Health Commissioner Ann Marie Sullivan. "They need support."
But some New York lawmakers like state Assemblywoman Deborah Glick are worried colleges and universities were not prepared for the mental health effects created by the pandemic, isolation and remote learning. Read more here.
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Veteran Suicide in New York State: The Latest Trends
Many predicted that the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic could exacerbate behavioral health and related challenges for the veteran population and increase suicide rates, but newly released data show that veteran suicide rates in New York State have stabilized in recent years. Yet suicide rates among veterans are still significantly worse than they were 15 years ago. And warning signs on the horizon suggest that progress is fragile and the recent stabilization of veteran suicide rates could be fleeting. This data brief examines the latest data from the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs and other sources to explore the current state of veteran suicide in New York State and nationally. Read more here.
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Hochul Administration Rejects Investments in Overdose Prevention Centers
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration is rejecting a recommendation from a state advisory panel to invest funds obtained from legal settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributers into overdose prevention centers, as part of an investment in harm reduction measures to save lives from the opioid epidemic.
“This recommendation violates State and Federal Laws, rules, and/or regulations,” wrote State Office of Addiction Services and Supports Commissioner Chinazo Cunningham in a letter sent Tuesday to the state Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board. Read more here.
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NY Health Commissioner to Resign
Dr. Mary Bassett, who was appointed to serve as state health commissioner one year ago, will not stick around as Gov. Kathy Hochul begins a full four-year term in January. Bassett announced Friday that she will resign effective Jan. 1 and return to the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, where she was employed before becoming state health commissioner in 2021.
Read more here.
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UPCOMING EVENTS & TRAININGS
Integrating Behavioral Health Peer Support Specialists into Crisis Response
December 8, 1 - 2 pm, Bureau of Justice Assistance
Addressing the Staffing Crisis in Juvenile Justice Systems
December 8, 1 - 2:30 pm, CSG Justice Center
FFI Data-Sharing Technology for Behavioral Health and Justice Learning Series: IBM
December 8, 2 - 3 pm, NACo
Growing the Workforce Pipeline through Strategic Community Partnerships
December 8, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Lessons Learned (So Far) from FORE’s Innovation Challenge in Developing Responses to the Opioid Crisis
December 8, 3 - 4:30 pm, Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE)
SAMHSA Data and Publicly Available Analysis Tools
December 8, 3 - 4:30 pm, SAMHSA
Addressing Health-Related Social Needs and Social Determinants of Health in Medicaid
December 12, 1 - 1:45 pm, CMS
Moving from Policy to Action: Fighting the Nation’s Drug Overdose and Death Epidemic
December 12, 1 - 2 pm, Manatt Health
A Holistic Trauma-Informed Approach for Every Treatment Court Role: Maximizing Team Members’ Effectiveness in Interpersonal Interactions
December 12, 3:30 - 5 pm, SAMHSA's GAINS Center
Housing as a Pathway to Justice: Gaining Project Buy-In
December 13, 10 - 11 am, Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH)
Making the Connection: Conversations Around Integrated Care
December 13, 10 - 11:30 am, MCTAC
IDD Managed Care: Why You Should Care
December 13, 12:30 - 2 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
The Case for Continuum Capital: Rethinking Substance Use Strategies and Resources
December 14, 1 - 2 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Improving Equity in Integrated Care Services Among Latinx Migrant Communities
December 15, 12 - 1 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Working with Medicare Webinar - State Contracting with D-SNPs: Using D-SNPs to Integrate Care for Dually Eligible Individuals
December 15, 1 - 2 pm, Center for Health Care Strategies
Integrating Bridge Clinics into Emergency Departments to Facilitate Access to Opioid Use Disorder Care
December 15, 1 - 2:15 pm, Center for Health Care Strategies
Community Engagement: An Essential Component of an Effective and Equitable Substance Use Prevention System
December 16, 2 - 3 pm, SAMHSA
New Medicaid Opportunities for Financing Health-Related Social Needs: A Conversation With States
January 9, 2023, 3 - 4 pm, Manatt Health
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CLMHD CALENDAR
DECEMBER
Addiction Services & Recovery Committee Meeting
December 8: 11 am - 12 pm
Mental Health Committee Meeting
December 8: 3 - 4 pm
LGU Clinic Operators Meeting
December 13: 10 - 11:30 am
CLMHD Membership Meeting
December 14: 9 - 10:30 am
Mental Hygiene Planning Committee Meeting
December 15: 1 - 3 pm
Developmental Disabilities Committee Meeting
December 22: 1 - 2:30 pm
CLMHD Office Closed - Christmas
December 26
CLMHD Office Closed - New Year's Day
January 2, 2023
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