NYAPRS Note: Almost 800 self and system advocates turned Albany green yesterday afternoon, as they ringed the state Capitol sporting green buttons proclaiming the message of the day: “Reinvest in My Recovery!”
They came from all over the state, from Buffalo and Rochester, Jamestown and Binghamton, Watertown and Syracuse, Plattsburgh and Westport, Westchester and Orange counties, Long Island and every borough of New York City to participate in NYAPRS’ 14th Annual Legislative Day.
Earlier in the morning, they turned the Egg’s Hart Auditorium into a spirited celebration of principles cherished by the greater NYAPRS community: hope, empowerment and rights, wellness and recovery, employment and economic self sufficiency, community integration and services in the most integrated community settings.
They also heard stirring remarks from the day’s speakers including:
- Senate Mental Health Committee Chairman Roy McDonald who announced the formation of two work groups empanelled to help stakeholders indentify key performance indicators for services in the emerging health home and managed care environments that will be chaired by Harvey Rosenthal for adults and Glenn Liebman for children.
- OMH Commissioner Mike Hogan who spoke passionately about new employment and ‘first break’ initiatives and accepted our Public Policy Leadership Award
- Founding Chair of the NYS Commission of Quality Care Clarence Sundram who lauded NYAPRS members’ past collaborations with CQC to reduce seclusion and restraint in state psych centers while accepting our Lifetime Achievement Award
- Isaac Brown on the power of peer support,
- Steve Miccio on person-centered state hospital discharge planning
- Norman Bloomfield and Coco Cox on justice for adult home residents,
- Steve Coe on the importance of new housing initiatives,
- Chacku Mathai on the broadening focus on employment and
- Doug Hovey on the importance of the Governor’s renewed focus on a state Olmstead plan.
The day was capped by a large, spirited march around the Capitol (see pictures below) and a host of meetings with state legislators and staff by the scores of NYAPRS members who filled the halls of the Legislative Office Building.
Great great thanks to all who helped organize, fill and fund the 14 buses and numerous vans and, most of all, to the hundreds whose spirit filled Albany yesterday and so well helped to represent our community!
Mental-Health Advocates Want “Reinvestment” In Housing, Supports
By Cara Matthews Gannett News Service January 31, 2012
Hundreds of people with mental illness and advocates for the mental-health system were at the Capitol today to lobby for the state to invest more money in housing, peer support and employment opportunities. They participated in the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services’ 14th annual Legislative Day.
According to NYAPRS, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget would continue the state’s overhaul of its health and mental-health systems in ways that are intended to continue consolidating and closing Office of Mental Health psychiatric hospitals, improve coordination of care and help avoid Medicaid hospitalizations and emergency-room visits. To achieve these goals, the state has been expanding managed care, establishing health homes and using behavioral health organizations. New York has 27 state psychiatric hospitals, about seven times the national average.
The organization said the state needs to do more than improve access to medical services and medications. It wants the state to “reinvest” the savings in community wellness, prevention and support systems. Research has shown that housing and economic stability and a community support system can reduce relapse rates and costly hospital visits, NYAPRS said in a statement.
“Otherwise, we will only be repeating the deinstitutionalization failures of the past where we closed the door to hospitals and ERs without placing sufficient services and supports in the community,” the group said.
Josue Hernandez, 32, of the Bronx said people with mental illness have a lot to offer, but they need more help finding jobs and housing and getting peer support after they are discharged from hospitals. He participates in a psychosocial club in the Bronx called the Boulevard Clubhouse, which provides placement in transitional jobs, advocacy and referrals and social programs. He finished a transitional-employment program and is now looking for a permanent position.
“My situation now, I’m dealing with finding a job after finishing my program. And it’s been a little hard,” he said.
He and his wife, Margaret, got married last July. They both belong to the Boulevard Club.
“They think that because I get disability and I work part time, they think I have enough to support the both of us. So until he gets a job, a lot of things are a stretch,” said Margaret Hernandez, 33.
Taxpayers spend more when someone is in a state psychiatric hospital than if they live in the community, said Christian Florio, a generalist/case manager at the Boulevard Clubhouse. “It actually costs less if you reinvest the money back into the community,” he said.
