AYUMI NAKANISHI / ANAKANISHI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Staff and patients at Hawaii State Hospital mixed with representatives from 30 community programs yesterday at a Provider Fair at the hospital. Registered nurse Emily Pettit, from the hospital, provided informational cards to visitors.
A new state Health Department phone system that directly links services to callers with mental health problems will help keep some patients out of the criminal justice system, officials say. New crisis line
helps patients avoid arrestThe system links services to callers with
mental problems so they can be helpedBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comState Health Director Bruce Anderson said yesterday that more than 3,000 adults and 100 adolescents called the ACCESS line (832-3100) in the first month of its operation by the Adult Mental Health Services Division.
Not all are crisis calls, he said. In some cases, agencies and groups are calling to ask for support and make sure people are getting the right services, he said.
The 24-hour line, formerly staffed by Helping Hands Hawaii under state contract, was taken over by the Health Department "to help assure accountability and appropriate services," Anderson said.
Accessible thus far on Oahu and the Big Island, the crisis line was among changes in the mental health system described yesterday during a Provider Fair at Hawaii State Hospital. More than 100 providers from 30 community programs and groups working with the mentally ill showcased their services in an exchange of information with hospital staff and patients.
Hospital Administrator Paul Guggenheim said the hospital is just one step in the mental health system, and he wanted to "bring the community in to link and care for patients."
He said about 85 percent of the hospital's 163 patients are court-committed because of "a unique way Hawaii handles mentally ill." In other states, many misdemeanants would be civilly committed instead of court-ordered to the mental hospital, he said. Guggenheim said he would prefer to see a number of misdemeanants and nonviolent Class C felons civilly committed so they could get quick treatment.
He said he believes the ACCESS phone system will provide assessments and assistance to people to "prevent things from escalating to police."
Anderson said an estimated 20,000 residents have serious mental illness, but only one-third receive state or private services. He said he hoped that as more services are developed, people "will be more accepting that serious mentally ill can be constructive citizens."
The Kaneohe hospital "used to be an embarrassment for the state," he said. "It was an institution where you went and never left," he said.
But "those days are long behind us," he added, and, "your work made this possible," he told the system's state and private workers.
The Legislature also has been "very generous" in funding critically needed community support services, he said.
The hospital has been operated under a federal court agreement since the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state in 1991 over federal violations.
But Guggenheim said he thinks it is "on target" with improvements completed and planned.
A federal site-visit team spent a week at the hospital late last month reviewing its remedial plan and talking to staff and patients, he said.
"Overall it was good, a different approach -- not the old 'gotcha' model," he said, explaining the team pointed out problems and offered suggestions. "There are a lot of things to improve, but a lot of things have been accomplished."
Anderson said he thinks the state is about three-fourths of the way toward completing a comprehensive mental health system.
He said he felt the state should have been freed from the consent decree some time ago because the hospital has developed "excellent quality support to patients."
However, he expects the consent degree to remain in effect another one to two years, with some federal oversight continuing after that.
Many hospital patients are treatable, and more focus is needed on treatment to return them to the community as functioning citizens, he said.
One example is Randy Hack, the Adult Mental Health Division's consumer advocate and member of its executive management team.
"For me, it was hard getting services 30 years ago," Hack said, explaining he has been confined in the hospital three times. "I know it from inside out."
Since his appointment to the division in July 1999, he said, "They do listen to me and implement what I recommend. ... We are making progress."
Hawaii Department of Health
State of Hawaii
