Mental patient A New York mental health patient whose plan to move to Hawaii sparked a major controversy here has changed his mind.
will not come
to isles after all
New York officials say
the man changed his
mind about the moveBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comHis decision resolves a confusing situation that distressed mental health officials both in Hawaii and New York.
Officials here were upset by initial information that Federation Employment Guidance Service, a large private health and human services organization, was paying for the man's trip and asking a local agency to pick him up and take him to the Institute for Human Services, a homeless shelter.
But Al Miller, chief executive of FEGS, said the man is a voluntary patient who has a right to go wherever he wants and who had saved money to buy a ticket to Hawaii, where he once lived.
FEGS contacted the Hawaii Adult Mental Health Division yesterday and said officials had spent a lot of time talking to the patient about his options, said state Department of Health spokeswoman Janice Okubo.
"He decided to rethink his plans, so at this time he will not be coming to Hawaii," she said, adding that the Health Department is contacting other agencies to let them know and cancel appointments made for him.
Miller told the Star-Bulletin Tuesday that FEGS tried to persuade the man to remain in treatment there, but he was determined to leave, so caseworkers there asked the Diamond Head Mental Health Center for references to services.
The man initially was to arrive here Monday, and FEGS had asked United Self-Help to pick him up and take him to IHS. Miller said FEGS did not know it was a homeless shelter.
The Adult Mental Health Division planned to send someone to the airport to assess the man's needs rather than wait until Dec. 26 when he had an appointment at the Diamond Head center.
Bud Bowles, United Self-Help executive director, said he is glad the man decided to remain in New York. "He's assured of treatment there instead of taking a chance and coming here."
Bowles said he is working with many homeless people who say they have waited six months to two years for housing.
Dr. Thomas Hester, who heads the Adult Mental Health Division, said the New York-Hawaii tangle over the patient "just highlights some of the difficulties around continuity of care for people with mental illness.
"The issue is supporting the rights of individuals with mental illness to make decisions about where they live but at the same time not to support -- and I'm not saying it applies in this case -- agencies dumping people out of their system and giving them transportation.
"It looks as though in this case, when more information was available, that it wasn't just a simple story," Hester added.
"You have a small state like Hawaii with limited resources, and people are sensitive to the issue," he said, "although I must say I know people contributing in a wonderful way to Hawaii who happened to travel here with very few resources and got help. Now they're highly valued productive and contributing citizens of Hawaii."
He said a significant factor in the New York case is that the man does not appear to have any family or social supports in Hawaii.
Federation Employment Guidance Service
State Health Department
