Crisis in California Mental Health Hospitals Puts Employees, Community at Risk
Video Implicates State Director Mayberg; Demonstration Set for Wednesday, April 25
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 23, 2007
Contacts for more information:
Denise Nicks cell phone: (562) 355-4318
Keith Uriarte cell phone: (510) 599-2685
Crisis in California Mental Health Hospitals Puts Employees, Community at Risk
Video Implicates State Director Mayberg; Demonstration Set for Wednesday, April 25
Norwalk, CA - Members of AFSCME Local 2620 will demonstrate this Wednesday, April 25 at Metropolitan State Hospital to protest dangerously unsafe conditions caused by understaffing in the State mental health hospitals. The protest will coincide with the release of a video at www.afscme2620.org which suggests that Stephen Mayberg, Ph.D., Director of the California Department of Mental Health, is largely responsible for the crisis.
The video, taken on March 24, 2004, shows State Senator Tom McClintock (R-19th District) harshly criticizing Mayberg for his lack of accountability. The Senator goes on to question whether the Director should remain in office. "Why haven't you been fired?" the senator bluntly asks. Despite the damning admonishment and increasing public criticism, the Governor recently gave Mayberg a 23.38% salary increase, ignoring the growing risks resulting from Mayberg’s mismanagement.
“The recent catastrophe in Virginia has sadly demonstrated what we professionals have known all along: untreated mental illness has the potential to take with it many victims,” said Cozette Moysa, a pharmacist at Metropolitan. “Both the Governor's Office and the Director of Mental Health have ignored the problem of severe understaffing and safety within the system. They don't seem to care that we are the only people that stand between the public and the horrors that mental illness can inflict.”
The understaffed hospitals, including Metropolitan, are increasingly unable to care for their often acutely ill psychiatric patients - putting the employees, the patients, and the community at risk. Fatimah Busran, MSW, a clinical social worker at Metropolitan, said that the problem has intensified over the past three months. “In my program alone, we have lost a third of our clinical staff and with more expected to go. In response, hospital administrators have failed to do anything about it. Rather than hiring to fill the vacancies, they have turned a blind eye and continue to ignore the issue.”
Pat Gehr, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at Metropolitan, expressed similar sentiments. "This situation has negatively impacted the facility's ability to comply with a federal justice department consent decree calling for every treatment team to be staffed with a team psychologist."
The demonstrations will take place Wednesday, April 25, from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM outside the main entrance on Bloomfield Ave. Hospital workers will speak to the crowd and discuss the issues in greater detail. The demonstrations underscore in Southern California what is a state-wide crisis for mental health facilities, which is adding to the overcrowded and dangerous conditions in County Jails across the State.
Local 2620 represents 1,000 Social Workers, Psychologists, Pharmacists, Rehabilitation Therapists, Chaplains, Dieticians and other mental health and health care professionals employed at Atascadero, Coalinga, Metropolitan, Napa and Patton State Hospitals.
AFSCME is the nation’s largest public service employees and health care workers union with more than 1.4 million members.