DMH: The hemorrhaging of staff continues…

Submitted by jamesfay on Mon, 04/07/2008 - 8:34pm.
The DMH hemorrhaging of staff continues… Recently, as of March 19th, 2008, the staff of the Springfield Regional Center (Office) was told by their Center Director that: 1. There will be “no… money” for new services for people with developmental disabilities. 2. Central Office in Jefferson City believes we have entered an economic recession; “It will go to 2012”. 3. “These are scary times for us”. 4. “You should look out for yourselves!” 5. “As people leave (service coordinators) their positions will go to the Greene County Senate Board 40”. {This also means, approximately $80-100,000.00 in targeted case management funds per slot will go to the Greene County SB 40 and not to the general fund in Jefferson City."Jeff Grosvenor, MRDD—DMH analysis showed the percentage rate would be 18% to be returned to the Trust Fund to make up the $5.5 M shortfall DMH will encounter when it no longer provide any case management"- MACDDS minutes from Web site"}. 6. We are not downsizing, “we are rightsizing.” It is further noted that as of this date, 4/7/08, the Springfield Regional Office has lost two more service coordinators. The SRO is now down from 33 to 19 service coordinators. What this means is the service coordinators remaining at the center are handling more people on their caseloads, which is used as a major part of the argument for outsourcing to the SB 40’s. This is self created evidence by DMH management to support their downsizing (rightsizing) activities. (Schafer said the plan was born out of a need to reduce the workloads of caseworkers to no more than 40 clients each. Now, he said, those ratios exceed 70 in some regions of the state, Post Dispatch 11/8/07). The Springfield Regional Office was nearing 40 per caseload before Mr. Keith Schafer, and then in turn, Mr. Bernie Simons started their “rightsizing” campaign. What are some possible reasons for “rightsizing”??: “Schafer said outside groups can hire workers more economically than the state. Those savings largely come from lower employee benefits, compared to the state's expensive health and retirement plans, he said. Post – Dispatch 11/8/07.” Could another reason for this expedited “rightsizing” plan be the 36 or so articles that appeared in the St. Louis Post Dispatch in 2006-7 pointing fingers at the Mental Health Commission, the Department of Mental Health and the MRDD division, and coinciding with Mr. Bernie Simons being brought in from Tennessee?
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Dept. of Mental Health: Families are concerned!!

Submitted by jamesfay on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 11:55am.
"I was astonished that this plan to privatize the MRDD caseworkers was still going on. When I spoke to Jeff Grosvenor, Director of Administration in November 2007, he assured me that this idea was only in the planning stage and was being researched.{Jeff Grosvenor, MRDD—per DMH analysis noted at a MACDDS meeting in 2007, the shortage to the State treasury will be “$5.5 M shortfall … when it no longer provide any case management”} He also assured me that they were not going to do anything drastic to cause the caseworkers the loss of their jobs.(...Say a total of 200 positions which means a REDUCTION OF 284 POSITIONS", {Service coordinator positions}, per Bernie Simons, MACDDS minutes,9/27/07) My brother is in an assisted living program and his caseworker is my MAJOR link to getting help for him or getting questions answered. She has been with my brother almost all his term and KNOWS him personally. His present counselors and caseworker have been most helpful in coordination of doctor appointments and even in setting up a most needed surgery for my brother in the past few months. I guess what I am telling you from a family's point of view is that when you get a caseworker you know and who not only knows the handicapped persons history they are involved with, you cannot afford to lose them. Anyone new coming in would not know the history of this person or his/her family. YES, that is EXTREMELY important. We are people and so are the handicapped. We need the security and assurance that we know who we are talking to and they understand what we are discussing with them. WE NEED TO KEEP OUR CASEWORKERS! Can you guarantee these families with your new plan that we will keep our caseworkers and present counselors that are making things run smoothly? If your caseworkers are overworked, spend some of the funding that goes to wasted projects and hire and train more caseworkers or assistants to help them. Instead of spending all the time and money on looking for someone to dump the problems of your lack of organization into someone else's lap, spend it on getting help and assuring jobs. You are making the families and the handicapped feel like trash being shoved around from one place to another with no thought of caring being involved. This is all politics and someone needs to get their head in the right place and insure that we do not lose our caseworkers. They are our lifeline. Family concerns need to be heard and taken to heart. We speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, our handicapped. The handicapped are people. When you assign them a caseworker, that caseworker becomes part of their family. If they lose a caseworker they become all confused and don't understand. SO I BEG YOU TO STOP THIS REDICULOUS VENTURE OF PRIVATIZATION!!! Posted by: Family member | February 03, 2008 at 03:59 AM " TAKEN FROM THE MRDD HOME PAGE BLOGS
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Dept. of Mental Health : Thoughts from MRDD Blog!!

Submitted by jamesfay on Wed, 04/09/2008 - 5:54pm.
"Currently the private case management in the SW area is not well organized. It relies on the Regional Office to clean up its harder cases and its mistakes. Why should we trust them when they have not proven that they can do the job. With their current structure they will still not be able to take all of the county which leaves all the intakes to the Regional Office therefore not helping the caseload numbers. And if they take current Regional Office employees I see no help at all by them taking any cases. Too bad Bernie and Keith can't see what is in front of them. They are just politicians and not bright ones at that. Posted by: nobuddy | February 04, 2008 at 02:43 PM"
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