ADVOCACY NEWS FROM NAMI NEW JERSEY:
1. LEGISLATURE QUESTIONS HAGEDORN CHANGES
2. CHRISTIE CONDITIONALLY VETOES STATE HOSPITAL COMMISSION
3. COMMITTEE CONSIDERS DECISION TO DELAY LAW FOR MENTALLY ILL
4. NEW DIRECTOR OF CHILDREN’S BEHAVIORAL HEALTH NAMED
5. N.J. OFFICIALS NOT READY TO PRIVATIZE STATE PROGRAMS
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LEGISLATURE QUESTIONS HAGEDORN CHANGES
A legislative panel, and not Gov. Chris Christie’s administration, will determine the fate of the Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital in Hunterdon County, an Assembly committee chairwoman said during a hearing today. The department had planned this week to stop accepting patients from Hunterdon County if they are between the ages of 18 and 64, but dozens of relatives, union representatives and advocacy groups who attended yesterday’s hearing urged the state to keep Hagedorn open, or at least maintain it as a facility that specializes in elderly patients with mental illness.
Read more:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/new_legislative_task_force_wil.html
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CHRISTIE CONDITIONALLY VETOES STATE HOSPITAL COMMISSION
Governor Chris Christie Thursday sent back to the state legislature a bill that would have established a task-force to study how well the psychiatric hospital system met the state’s needs. Christie, who had until yesterday to sign the bill into law, wrote that he objected to the scope of the proposed study, that it would cost too much and that it would duplicate a 2004 study by the state Department of Human Services.
Last year, after a Christie transition team recommended closing Hagedorn, funding for the hospital was initially stripped from the current budget. The proposed closure has been opposed by families of patients here as well as Hagedorn’s nearly 600 staff and administrators and by the larger community as well.
Read the full story:
http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2010/09/christie_shreds_plan_to_study.html
See the conditional veto message:
http://www.state.nj.us/governor/news/news/552010/pdf/20100914_A2866_cv.pdf
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COMMITTEE CONSIDERS DECISION TO DELAY LAW FOR MENTALLY ILL
An Assembly committee today dissected — and at times bitterly debated — the governor’s decision to hold off on a law that would let families intervene to require that mentally ill relatives seek treatment.
Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez six weeks ago announced the law would be indefinitely delayed because it had been approved without any money to expand community treatment programs, and existing ones are swamped. But Assembly Human Services Committee Chairwoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) said she would not allow Gov. Chris Christie to just “disregard the law."
Read more:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/nj_might_delay_law_that_would.html
Listen to the hearing (minute 8:00):
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/MEDIA/OLS_MEDIA_PLAYER.HTM?wma=!{A}http://rmserver.njleg.state.nj.us/
internet/2010/AHU/0916-0200PM-M0-1.wma!
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NEW DIRECTOR OF CHILDREN’S BEHAVIORAL HEALTH NAMED
Jeffrey Guenzel has been appointed Director of the Division of Children’s Behavioral Health Services. Mr. Guenzel has extensive experience in the field of children’s behavioral health. Currently he serves as Executive Director of the Partnership for Children of Essex, which was the first Unified Care Management Organization. Previously he worked in several clinical and supervisory positions at University Behavioral Healthcare in Newark, as well as in direct care at a residential treatment program. His experience over the past six years at the Partnership for Children of Essex have provided him with an in-depth understanding of the challenges facing our youth, their families, and just as important, the organizations providing services to them today. This expertise will be invaluable to DCF as we continue our progress on behalf of the children and families of New Jersey.
Learn more:
http://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/name/Jeffrey_J_Guenzel_MA,LPC_West+Orange
_New+Jersey_70567
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N.J. OFFICIALS NOT READY TO PRIVATIZE STATE PROGRAMS
The state budget that took effect July 1 assumes $50 million in savings from privatizing some functions of state government. But today, two-and-a-half months into this year’s budget, state officials were not ready to say what programs the state plans to put in private hands. A report, issued in July, said the state could eventually save $210 million each year by privatizing functions that include state psychiatric hospitals, motor vehicle inspections, state park concession stands, interstate rest areas, toll collection, state office parking lots, and highway emergency service patrols.
Read more:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/nj_officials_not_ready_to_priv.html
View The New Jersey Privatization Task Force Report:
http://www.nj.gov/governor/news/reports/pdf/2010709_NJ_Privatization_Task_Force_Final_
Report_(May_2010).pdf
