Commissioner Allie Friesen says the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services desperately needs change.
“From where I stand, our patient care has not been a priority in many, many, many years,” Friesen said during a press conference she held Thursday.
Friesen said the overhaul she’s calling for has been a priority since she was appointed to the role in January.
“There's a lot of noise that will try to get in our way and certainly has in the last seven months,” Friesen said, referring to heated conflict about settlement plans for a federal lawsuit claiming the state has been failing to provide timely mental health services to some of its most vulnerable patients.
The department’s plans for the settlement remain ambiguous. Christina Green, Assistant General Counsel for the department, who sat at the front of the room with Friesen, said their team couldn’t disclose much information about the consent decree at the center of the settlement.
“The Contingency Review Board has voted against the consent decree, and we understand that the litigation itself will continue on to the merits of the case,” Green said.
U.S. District Court Judge Gregory K. Frizzell, who gave his preliminary approval to the consent decree in September, is set to hold a final hearing on the matter on Jan. 15. Green said she could not elaborate on whether the Contingency Review Board’s ruling would change the timeline or its outcome.
Friesen assured reporters she is still seeking new representation, per a termination letter she sent to Attorney General Gentner Drummond earlier this week, despite his claims that she doesn’t have the power to do so.
Friesen said she called the press conference to discuss the “department’s new direction and “challenges inherited from previous leadership.”
“There are no words for the environment of care we have allowed our patients and employees to operate within,” Friesen said.
“We have sewage that has come through the wall in one of our crisis facilities for years and years,” she added. “We have toilets that do not work in patient care areas so that patients have to line up like kindergartners and go to the bathroom.”
She said current conditions could “not be tolerated,” and the department “should not have any privilege to do anything else until we figure that out.”
From January to June 15, Friesen said the department has had 1,044 reports of employee injury as a result of assaultive behavior by patients.
“This has been tolerated, purposely or otherwise, and we're not doing that anymore,” she said.
Friesen also criticized the implementation of the Narcan vending machine program, saying the department's heavy focus on marketing over data led to its downfall.
“It started as a prevention initiative, and it was quickly morphed into a marketing and communication strategy,” Friesen said.
But according to Friesen, the department is still working to “establish a baseline” meaning a lot of substantive change won’t be visible for six to 12 months.
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