Letter: I oppose the proposed Templeton mental health facility

Posted: 3:26 am, December 11, 2015 by Letter To The Editor

To the editor,

–Regarding the proposed 91 bed acute care mental health facility proposed for the community of Templeton; I am in opposition to this particular project and I will do my best to illustrate why.

My understanding of this subject comes from my own experience, talking with members of the medical & mental health care community as well as attending the Family Orientation Class conducted by Transitions Mental Health Association.

When my daughter was 18, she had a situation where the mobile crisis unit had to take her from Templeton to SLO County Mental Health. Once processed at the facility located at the old General Hospital I was informed that because she was insured she would have to go to a private provider. Of course it is no secret that there are none available in SLO County: Bakersfield or Ventura were the closest choices. Imagine my anxiety level.

Consider, even if six to seven, private pay, in-county patients (about 400 per year) are to be transported to this proposed facility in Templeton on any given weekend, then who will be occupying those other 84 beds per week? And remember this is a psych treatment facility doing nothing for drug, alcohol, medi-cal, homeless or outpatient services for members of our own community. It is my limited understanding that the majority of 5150/5250’s, happening mostly on the weekends, are transient or college aged students with an underlying drug or alcohol problem. This facility will do nothing to help them. Our County Mental Health triage center will not be able to send most of their patients to this proposed facility. Side note- SLO County has a grave shortage of psychiatrists, there are close to none in Templeton.

There is the potential for 3200 people from outside SLO county to be coming to the little town of Templeton for psychiatric treatment. School aged children (1800 of the 3200 total ) from outside the county will require Templeton School District provide the educational needs for these kids. It can’t even provide bus service for its current students! How in the world will they be able to meet these requirements without placing a burden upon the students and families who already pay taxes that barely support their own community?

“We know in working with these children and their family members (that) it’s very difficult for families to travel to have to go see them, or figure out how to keep their continued care with their primary care physician here,” said Jill Bolster-White, executive director of the nonprofit Transitions Mental Health Association in San Luis Obispo, speaking on sending children outside out county to other facilities such as Bakersfield or Ventura.

Let’s look at this in reverse– It is a burden to make families have to travel long distances while dealing with these types of situations. Why would we make families travel to Templeton from Salinas, Bakersfield, Santa Barbara, Ventura and possibly beyond? If I would have had to travel to Bakersfield or Ventura it would have been a financial & mental disaster for me & my family. I agree that it is best to keep patients near their place of origin. We need to take care of our own people in our own community!

Additionally, SLO Sheriff states this will cause the need for additional law enforcement and staffing….again more burden to the community of Templeton in the form of taxpayer money as well as the compromised security of their community.

SLO County representatives as well as residents, I challenge you to meet the needs of our own community members:

Support the efforts of Transitions Mental Health in their endeavor to open a care facility in SLO where resources abound.
Why is General Hospital not considered as a place for this type of facility? If your answer is that it’s isn’t profitable….then let’s take another look at what is being proposed in Templeton, how will that be any more profitable? It won’t, but that isn’t the point. The owner of this property is seemly becoming more desperate as time goes on to put anything on that property even if it compromises the residential community that surrounds it. It’s better suited for an ice skating rink than a psych facility!

This proposal makes zero sense for small community of Templeton; I urge this commission to deny the project of a Mental Health Facility operated by Vizion health LLC in Templeton, in its entirety.

Further, Vizion Health LLC does not have the experience necessary to operate this facility. This statement in the Tribune from property owners, Harvey and Melanie Billig, is truly ridiculous. “Mark’s approach is not like the biggies in the country but a very local approach,” Melanie Billig said. “Harvey and I don’t want a larger corporation — not cookie-cutter like everything else in the country but something that fits the need for SLO County. We tried to find an operator who cares about something like that.” Vizion Health, first incorporated in 2011 in Louisiana, where Schneider lives, doesn’t have any clients yet, Schneider confirmed. How in the heck can they make a statement like this if Vizion Health has no clients? Since 2011 no less? And just because they have “tried” to find a corporation that cares about our community does not mean they “have” found it. And finally, how does this exactly “fit the needs for SLO County?”

In conclusion:

This facility will do nothing to help solve the problem of the shortage of mental health care professionals in our county.
This type of facility is unprecedented & untested anywhere in the country.
It is proposed to be a non-secure facility meaning patients can come and go at will. How is that possible when dealing the psychiatric patients?
With the imposition of Affordable Health Care Act, I propose that SLO County consider making changes to the current County Mental Health Administration to be able to accept AHC insurance since all Americans are now mandated to have coverage according to the law. Would the AHC in essence force the change in the county system due to every American having health care? Let’s ask that question.
And finally, this does nothing to help our Military Veterans of which there are over 28,000 residing in SLO county.

Again, I ask you to consider helping the needs of our local residents before we invite over 3200 outside residents to SLO County for acute psychiatric treatment.

Respectfully submitted,
Marie Roth, Templeton resident