Legislature(1997 - 1998)
03/19/1997 03:40 PM House HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
JOINT SENATE AND HOUSE HEALTH, EDUCATION
AND SOCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEES
March 19, 1997
3:40 p.m.
SENATE MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Gary Wilken, Chairman
Senator Johnny Ellis
SENATE MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Loren Leman, Vice-Chairman
Senator Lyda Green
Senator Jerry Ward
HOUSE MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Con Bunde, Chairman
Representative Joe Green, Vice-Chairman
Representative Fred Dyson
Representative Al Vezey
Representative Tom Brice
Representative J. Allen Kemplen
HOUSE MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Brian Porter
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION BY "BUILDING BRIDGES"
WITNESS REGISTER
Testimony was offered by the following persons:
Jan McGillivary, Anchorage; Pat Kouris, Anchorage; Rebbecca
Brennan, Kodiak; Cheryl Wheat, Fairbanks; Bernie Janzen, Wasilla;
DeAnn Heide, Cordova; Jeri Lanier, Fairbanks; Mary Synoground,
Fairbanks; Crystal Choate, Soldotna; Steve Bue, Anchorage; Patricia
Edwards, Anchorage; Joseph Coolidge, Anchorage; Richard Warrington,
Kenai; Sig Torgramsen, Anchorage; Tina McKinney, Fairbanks; Susan
Berg, Anchorage; Jacquolene Townsend, Juneau; Vannessa Roney,
Kenai; Frankie Doulin, Anchorage; Sabrina Rodgers, Juneau; Ken
Lemieux, Juneau; and Vince Osterhaut, Juneau
ACTION NARRATIVE
SENATE TAPE 97-30, SIDE A
Number 001
CHAIRMAN WILKEN called the Joint Senate and House Health, Education
and Social Services Committee to order at 3:40 p.m. After
welcoming guests and introducing members of the joint committee,
Chairman Wilken invited the first presenters to come forward and
begin.
JAN MCGILLIVARY, Coordinator of the "Building Bridges" Campaign for
Mental Health for 1997 explained it is a group of mental health
consumers, their family members, their advocates and providers that
have traveled to Juneau four years in a row to educate about issues
affecting Alaskans who experience mental illnesses and emotional
disturbances.
Ms. McGillivary said the "Building Bridges" group is in support of
budget recommendations as forwarded earlier by the Alaska Mental
Health Board and the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, and they
encourage the restoration of Medicaid cuts that have made
previously, specifically in the options that cover eye glasses,
hearing aids and acute dental needs. Further, they encourage the
continued support for community-based mental health services.
Number 075
PAT KOURIS of Anchorage said her purpose in appearing before the
committee was to request that funding for community-based mental
health services be maintained, and to speak on behalf of her son
who started having mental problems at the age of 21 and is
currently in the Alaska Psychiatric Institute (API) in Anchorage.
He is now 24 years old and is well on the road to recovery and
participating in transitional community-based services. Ms. Kouris
pointed out that it is much less expensive to treat her son and
others with mental illness in the community with supportive mental
health services rather than in the hospital setting. She said one
of the reasons these services are necessary is because of the
stigma of mental illness and the need for someone to act as a
buffer on the journey of recovery to full participation in a
meaningful life.
Number 175
REBBECCA BRENNAN of Kodiak said previous to her slide into
depression she was a working mother who was active in many
community organizations and projects. She was eventually diagnosed
with manic depression, has been hospitalized five times, and has
attempted suicide two times. Because of allergies and drug
sensitivities it has been very hard for the doctors to get the
right mix of drugs for her, and she is currently taking 19 drugs
per day. As a result of her illness, she has had to quit her job
and go on long-term disability. Her husband is a state employee,
but they have found that Aetna, the state's insurance carrier, has
severely limited benefits for persons with mental nervous
disorders, limiting it to a $50,000 life time benefit. She pointed
out the cost of one of her hospital visits was $25,000.
Number 250
CHERYL WHEAT of Fairbanks stated she is a consumer of mental health
services, having been diagnosed with major depression, anxiety and
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She related that when she
had her mental breakdown her financial circumstances changed
dramatically: she lost her good credit rating, she couldn't pay
her debts, and she recently filed for bankruptcy. Before she
qualified for Medicaid she could not afford the medicine,
therefore, she did not take any and her condition continued to go
downhill. Once Medicaid kicked in, her doctor prescribed drugs
which helped her and allowed her to function in her own home, as
well as work part time. Ms. Wheat said that if not Medicaid, adult
public assistance and her social security disability, she would
either be living on the streets, in API, or in jail. Last year she
received a grant for dental work, and her eyes are bothering her
now, but she has been told that no grant money is available at this
time to have her eyes checked.
Ms. Wheat noted that last year the Alaska Mental Health Trust
Authority offered $1 million to provide for some services that have
been cut by Medicaid if the state and federal governments would
each match the $1 million, and she questioned why the Legislature
hasn't acted on this offer as yet. She said it seems like good
business sense to her, a $1 million investment for a $3 million
return on services.
Number 295
CHAIRMAN BUNDE commented that the reduction is Medicaid services
has been a sore spot for a lot of legislators, and he has been told
by the chairman of the House Finance Committee that there will be
specific legislation addressing Medicaid benefits for eye glasses,
hearing aids and dental work.
Number 304
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE pointed out the legislation doesn't make
specific recommendations for those services, and the Legislature
still has not addressed the whole Medicaid options list, so he
thinks it is premature at this point in time to say that those
options will be paid.
Number 325
BERNIE JANZEN of Wasilla informed the committee that she is the
adoptive mom of two reactive attachment disorder children. She
said the violent behaviors that can occur without warning causes
her family to live in a battlefield, not knowing when the next
grenade is going to go off. These children are bright, charming
and totally self-absorbed, and they are children who have no
remorse. She cautioned that unless reactive attachment disorder
children are treated through mental health, they will be reactive
attachment adults, and the over-populations of prisons who house
undiagnosed RAD adults is overwhelming. She said there is hope for
these children with appropriate mental health treatment, and she
urged support for the recommendations of the Alaska Mental Health
and Trust Authority budgets.
Number 366
DEANN HEIDE of Cordova said she has been diagnosed as chronic major
depression, anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Prior to her diagnosis she was director of nursing of hospitals,
but has lost her licensure because of her mental illness. Over the
last five years she has been hospitalized multiple times, and due
to the limited local community resources, she has been handcuffed
and jailed overnight prior to being transported to API. She noted
she makes $20 too much a month on her disability to qualify for
Medicaid assistance, and therefore five months of her disability
went toward her own medical care. Currently, she has recovered
adequately to work part time at a domestic violence and sexual
assault center. Most of her time is donated hours because she is
virtually unemployable in her community. Ms. Heide said with the
new welfare initiatives Alaska has written a draft called the
Alaska Plan. There are 7,000 people in the state eligible to go
work in the first year of that, but in that plan there are no
incentives, nothing offered to individuals to employ the disabled.
She said she would like to see the Alaska Plan address the
disabled.
Number 400
JERRY LANIER of Fairbanks said two of her three children are
severely emotionally disturbed. Her oldest son, who is now 21
years old, started receiving services when he was 12 years old.
Because of the help he received when he was younger, he is now
completely functional, on his own, has a job, and is not needing
any support services from the state. However, her daughter was
assaulted and in need of counseling, but with all of the budgets
cuts that have occurred and because her mother makes $10 a month
too much for Medicaid services, the daughter has not been able to
receive the same help that her brother received. Ms. Lanier has
had to send her daughter out of state to live with her parents who
are now helping raise her child, and her greatest hope is that the
Medicaid funding is put back in place and that grants become
available again so that her daughter can return home and receive
the services she needs with her family.
Number 432
MARY SYNOGROUND of Fairbanks stated she has been in the mental
health system since 1957. In 1988 her doctor provided her with a
counselor and a case manager to help her stabilize and get out of
the hospital. She has maintained her mental health since then, and
she said it is much cheaper to provide these out-patient services
to people like her than it is to keep them in hospitals.
Number 444
CRYSTAL CHOATE of Soldotna said the state of Alaska has set an
excellent example of taking care of its own, and she asked the
committee to remember the mentally ill from the seriously
incapacitated to the mildly depressed souls. She said they would
be lost without the Medicaid assistance for the programs they
participate in. The community outreach program of the Central
Peninsula Counseling Services has helped her by socializing with
others who have experienced the same rejection from society because
of their illness, and it has made her realize that she is not
alone. If she hadn't found the community outreach program through
a friend, she would have been hospitalized, her children would have
been put in foster care at a greater cost to the state than the
Central Peninsula Counseling Services provide for her now. She
told of the affects her illness had on family and friends, but she
said that has all changed over the past year with the positive
impact of the assistance she has received. Ms. Choate urged the
continued funding of programs for the mentally ill and
reinstatement of Medicaid funding for sight, hearing and dentistry.
Number 492
STEVE BUE of Anchorage told of his being diagnosed three years ago
as paranoid schizophrenic, hearing voices and the fear for his
life. He said because of medications available, treatment provided
by South Central Counseling Center and the support of his family,
he is alive and living a normal life. He works 20 hours a week and
he is a taxpayer. He emphasized that without mental health
services provided by the state he would not be here today.
Number 498
PATRICIA EDWARDS of Anchorage said her untreated schizophrenia and
depression left her homeless and close to death. With assistance
from South Central Counseling Center she has been placed on
medications to control her illness. She said her community-based
mental health center has helped her receive housing assistance
while she has been volunteering to improve her working skills. She
expressed her appreciation to the Legislature for making it
possible for her to have another chance and for the time it takes
to recover.
Number 515
JOE COOLIDGE of Anchorage spoke of his mental illness and how
little things make him nervous. He said talk about making cuts to
Medicare and Medicaid scares him. Before being diagnosed as manic
depressive, he worked and supported him family. After being sent
to API several times his wife divorced him. He told of how various
community counseling programs have helped him get his life back
together.
Number 558
RICHARD WARRINGTON of Kenai told of his traumatic brain injury
(TBI), the invisible disability, which he received in 1978. He was
recently appointed to the National Brain Injury Association
Ambassador Program, representing the TBI survivors and the families
of survivors around the state of Alaska. There are approximately
700 to 1,000 Alaskans who receive a TBI each year. He has been in
Alaska for 12 years and has experienced the lack of knowledge,
support or assistance in all agencies for TBI survivors in the
state. He said he was appearing before the committee to advocate
for the brain injured and their families, to secure and develop
community-based services, to support research leading to better
outcomes that enhance the lives of people who have sustained a
brain injury, and to promote prevention of brain injury through
public awareness, education and legislation. He pointed out that
the TBI Act was signed into law in 1996, and the state of Alaska is
eligible to receive funds through this Act, but first it must set
up an advisory board to appropriate these funds.
SENATE TAPE 97-30, SIDE B
Number 585
SIG TORGRAMSEN of Anchorage told of how he started having problems
when he was 17 years old and started seeing counselors. The
problem continued for years before he actually received any
psychiatric medication of any kind. He went through a heavy
equipment training school, becoming a journeyman operator; however,
his handicap has become worse so he is not capable of being an
operating engineer anymore. He noted he has been hospitalized over
42 times in the past 23 years, and he said that if it wasn't for
places like API and South Central Counseling Center, he'd probably
be dead. He urged continued mental health funding for counseling
centers and community-based mental health support systems.
Number 560
SUSAN BERG of Anchorage said she is both a consumer of mental
health and medical services and a psychiatrist. She told of
traveling from New York and being severely beaten in Seattle,
Washington. She said she has been at the bottom of the pile at API
and at the top. She wants to go to work because she is doctor who
can generate income, not just collect Medicaid and Medicare. She
said she needs the help and support to get back into the work force
because of the stigma attached to her illness.
Number 542
TINA MCKINNEY of Fairbanks informed the committee that four years
ago she took physical custody of her sister's two boys, ages 4 and
8, who had severe emotional disabilities. She then spent nearly
$10,000 in legal fees to gain legal custody. The boys have a
history of violence, repeated sexual assaults by men and women,
pornography, physical abuse, etc. She said the boys are
intelligent, funny and insightful, but they are also violent,
destructive, they lie and steal, and they act out sexually. Among
services received for the boys are home-based activity therapy,
crisis intervention, a team approach to case coordination and
respite care. Ms. McKinney said without these services, she would
be unable to maintain a full-time job and safely maintain her
children in her home. She also told of her sister's and mother's
mental problems, and she urged support of community-based mental
health services so that families like hers can break the cycle of
abuse and mental illness.
Number 516
JACQUOLENE TOWNSEND of Juneau said besides being a mental health
consumer she is a mental health professional. She said she never
finished high school, left home, was homeless and did a lot of
inappropriate things. She was on welfare and eventually got her
GED, then she became an LPN, then she became an RN, then she got a
degree in psychology and became a certified psychiatric nurse. Her
medications cost between $150 and $200 a month, but she has good
health insurance and can pay for them. She pointed out that back
in the late seventies and the early eighties there was good support
for people who were mentally ill, and she stressed the need to find
a way to help these people who don't have medical insurance buy
their medications and keep them employable.
Number 482
VANNESSA RONEY of Kenai said she was dually diagnosed borderline
personality, manic depressive about six years ago. After being in
and out of hospitals for 10 years, she finally got that diagnosis.
Then after spending several years feeling sorry for herself, she
was referred to the community outreach program through the Central
Peninsula Counseling Services which changed her life. The program
showed her her life doesn't end with mental illness, it begins
anew. She was a college graduate, but she didn't have a job, and
through this program she learned self-worth and it gave her hope
and ambition. She said she wanted to thank anybody who has voted
for funds for the mentally ill because she feels like she owes them
her life and her gratitude.
Number 445
FRANKIE DOULIN of Anchorage related that after living many years in
Morningside and API she now lives in her own home with a friend.
Her case manager in Anchorage has helped her in many ways such as
getting her daily medications, paying bills, taking her to the
doctor, taking her shopping, etc. She said she would be lost
without her case manager, and she implored the committee members
not to take away her case manager or other Medicaid benefits.
Number 417
SABRINA RODGERS of Juneau, speaking on behalf of the Juneau
Alliance For The Mentally Ill (JAMI), lives in a half-way house for
the mentally disabled. She spoke to the need for financing for
housing for the mentally disabled, which is called MICA housing
because it is an alcohol and drug free environment. Approximately
200 mentally ill clients need continued support through JAMI, which
offers numerous programs that provide opportunities to its clients.
She asked that the Legislature take a proactive approach in
preventative funding because hospitalization is much more costly
than local care.
Number 398
KEN LEMIEUX of Juneau expressed his appreciation for the help, and
friendship he has received over the last 11 years as a mentally ill
client.
Number 391
VINCE OSTERHAUT of Juneau said that since the age of 15 he has made
23 suicide attempts, and he estimated that the state of Alaska has
probably paid close to half a million dollars to cover his
hospitalizations and emergency surgery. He said he is currently
homeless, and that there is a need for more services and housing in
the community. He receives social security, but he would rather be
a working, functioning member of society. However, there is a
stigma attached to mental illness. He has worked in jobs where
because he has a preexisting condition, he is denied medical
insurance. He stressed the importance of the mentally ill being
functioning members of society, not just locked up in places like
API and medicated until they can't even remember their own names.
He said he has slipped through the cracks in the system because he
is what is called "high functioning" and 90 percent of the services
are aimed towards "low functioning" clients.
Number 345
CHAIRMAN WILKEN and CHAIRMAN BUNDE expressed their appreciation to
the "Building Bridges" people who appeared before the joint
committee. The meeting then adjourned at 4:52 p.m.
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