January 25th, 2010
COLUMBUS – At a ceremony held by the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities on January 26th in the Statehouse Atrium, four individuals were honored for their distinguished service to Ohioans who need mental illness and addiction healthcare services and to the alcohol, drug addiction and mental health field.
 - Pamela Hyde, recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award
Guest speaker Pamela S. Hyde, J.D., administrator of the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), was recognized with an Outstanding Achievement Award for ongoing commitment to excellence in mental health and addiction services.
Ms. Hyde has more than 30 years of experience in management and consulting for public healthcare and human services agencies. She most recently served as Secretary of the New Mexico Human Services Department, and is a former Director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and the Ohio Department of Human Services.
 - Representative Linda Bolon, recipient of the Legislator of the Year Award
State Representative Linda Bolon (D-Columbiana) was named Legislator of the Year by the Association for her leadership and compassion on behalf of Ohioans with mental illness and addictive disorders.
Patricia Baumgarner, executive director of the Columbiana County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, commented, “As Vice-Chair of House Finance, Representative Bolon made sure that local recovery leaders were able to testify before the committee during the budget process. She has been attentive to our position and has helped our system to advocate for funding and desired budget language. In Columbiana County, she consistently participates in events for the general public to help highlight the importance of recovery.”
 - Hamid Mehrizi, recipient of the President’s Partnering for Success Award
Recipient of the President’s Partnering for Success Award was Hamid Mehrizi, Ohio Department of Mental Health’s Chief of the Office of Capital Planning and Management. Mehrizi was honored for his work to strengthen and enhance the community behavioral health system.
“As this year’s president of the Association, I chose Hamid because I wanted to recognize someone who has been involved with all the major parts of our system: consumers’ organizations, provider agencies and boards,” said Precia Shenk Stuby, Association president and executive director of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental
Health Services Board of Hancock County. “Hamid has been involved in capital projects that have benefited us all. He truly believes in our system and carries out his tasks with the utmost level of professionalism and spirit of collaboration.”
 - Alan Johnson, recipient of the CEO Award for Distinguished Leadership
The CEO Award for Distinguished Leadership went to Columbus Dispatch writer Alan Johnson for taking action to improve the quality of care for mental illness and/or addiction for Ohio citizens.
According to Walter, “Alan has been a regular caller this past year as we’ve struggled to make the public and policy makers aware of the impact of state budget cuts on services for those with mental illness or addiction. His consistent reporting of our issues has brought awareness and education of a critical issue for two-thirds of Ohio families. For this, we are grateful.”
Following the awards ceremony, the Association held a press conference to launch the OF-1-MIND campaign, dedicated to education and advocacy regarding mental illness and addiction prevention, treatment and recovery support services. The campaign began with a phone survey of Ohioan’s opinions about behavioral health issues. To learn more about the campaign and see the survey results, visit www.of-1-mind.org.
In the evening, OACBHA and its member alcohol, drug addiction and mental health boards hosted a Legislative Reception for Senators, State Representatives and their aides.
Cheri L. Walter
Chief Executive Officer
Posted in CEO Minutes |
January 22nd, 2010
A recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) Report, Substance Use Treatment Need and Receipt among People Living in Poverty, studied the need for and the receipt of substance use treatment among people ages 12 and older living in poverty. The report, using NSDUH data from 2006 to 2008, found that 3.7 million people ages 12 and older living in poverty needed substance use treatment in the past year. Only 17.9% of those 3.7 million received treatment at a specialty facility during the past year. Males living in poverty were almost twice as likely as females living in poverty to need treatment. People living in poverty in the age group of 18 to 25 had the highest rate of treatment need and the lowest rate of receiving treatment. The report also found that people living in poverty with no health insurance were more likely than those with insurance to have been in need of substance abuse treatment in the past year. To view this report, please visit: oas.samhsa.gov/2k10/173/173Poverty.htm.
Tags: females living in poverty, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, NSDUH, Substance, treatment
Posted in Up to the Minute |
January 21st, 2010
Last night, Massachusetts elected Scott Brown, a Republican, in a special election to fill the seat of the late Senator Ted Kennedy. The election of Brown eliminates the Democrats’ 60 seat, filibuster proof majority in the Senate. This election also has implications for the healthcare reform debate as Brown has vowed to oppose the current bill. There are a few options to move forward with the current healthcare reform bill. One would be for the House to pass the Senate’s version of the bill as is and send it to the President. Another option would be to reconcile the House and Senate bills and send them back through each chamber for approval. At this time, the next steps are still unclear as many Representatives and Senators are viewing the Massachusetts vote as a referendum on the current legislative activity, including healthcare, with major implications on the mid-term elections this fall. For more information about the election, please visit: online.wsj.com/article/ SB10001424052748703837004575012721465325974.html.
Tags: Healthcare Reform, Joe Kennedy, Kennedy, Massachusetts, Scott Brown
Posted in Health Care Reform, Up to the Minute |
January 21st, 2010
The Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities Foundation will be kicking off the OF-1-MIND campaign with a press conference on January 26th, at 1:30 in the Statehouse Atrium. The public is welcome to attend.
The OF-1-MIND campaign is an action-oriented advocacy and education campaign designed to create a shift in public opinion and to increase local and state support for community-based mental health and addiction services and recovery supports. OF-1-MIND will mobilize Ohioans to communicate the knowledge that addiction and mental illness are diseases of the brain and that treatment works and people recover. For more information on the OF-1-MIND campaign, please visit: www.of-1-mind.org.
Tags: addition, advocacy, alcohol and drug, behavioral health, education, metal health, mind, of, of-1-mind, Ohio, one, recovery
Posted in Up to the Minute |
January 14th, 2010
While state revenues are still close to being on target for the fiscal year as a whole, December revenues proved disappointing last week as they came in below estimate by $37.3 million (2.5%). To help provide some perspective on where the bar has been set for revenue estimates, through December, Ohio has received $764.9 million less in SFY 2010 than it did in SFY 2009 – a decline in revenues of 9.1%.
Tags: December, estimates, Ohio Budget, Revenue, SFY 2010
Posted in Up to the Minute |
January 14th, 2010
President Obama and Democratic leaders met today to begin working on a final healthcare bill. The President met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), and other Democratic leaders to narrow the differences between the House and Senate bills. The Democratic leaders still have a few obstacles to overcome, one of them being a special election next week in Massachusetts to replace the late Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy. The surprisingly close race for this Senate seat could cost Democrats the 60th vote they need to pass the final bill through the Senate. Republican leaders believe that they may still be able to stop the bill because many House Democrats who supported the initial healthcare bill may not vote for the final version due to potential changes in provisions on abortion, Medicare cuts, and federal Medicaid aid to states.
To read this article in its entirety, please visit: www.msnbc.msn.com/ id/34839717/ns/politics-health_care_reform/.
Tags: democrats, Edward Kennedy, Harry Reid, health care reform, medicaid, medicare, Obama
Posted in Health Care Reform, Up to the Minute |
January 14th, 2010
According to data from the Veterans Affairs (VA) Department, the suicide rate for men ages 18 to 29 who have left the military has significantly increased. The suicide rate for men in this age group has increased 26% from 2005 to 2007. The active military has also seen an increase in suicides, with the Army having a record number last year. The military releases suicide data frequently, but it is more difficult to track suicide rates for veterans after they’ve left active duty. The VA calculated the suicide numbers using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers from 16 states. Eric Shinseki, VA Secretary, commented that about 20% of the more than 30,000 suicides each year in America are committed by veterans.
More at: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34807684/ns/health-mental_health/.
Tags: CDC, Eric Shinseki, Suicide, veterans
Posted in Up to the Minute |
January 11th, 2010
This past week the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released a new report on a recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) that found that high rates of lifetime drug use among the baby boomer generation along with the large size of this generation predicts that the number of older adults abusing drugs will increase over the next two decades. It is estimated that by 2020, the number of persons ages 50 or older needing treatment for a substance use disorder will double. According to SAMHSA Administrator, Pamela S. Hyde, J.D. “This new data has profound implications for the health and well-being of older adults who continue to abuse substances. These findings highlight the need for prevention programs for all ages as well as to establish improved screening and appropriate referral to treatment as part of routine health care services.”
To read the SAMHSA news release and access the report please go to:
http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/1001073150.aspx
Have GREAT WEEK!!
Cheri L. Walter
Chief Executive Officer
Posted in CEO Minutes |
January 4th, 2010
On February 22, 1842 Abraham Lincoln stated in an address to the Springfield Washington Temperance Society “In order to win a man to your cause you must first reach his heart, the great high road to his reason”. So the question to those of us working to ensure that individuals with an addiction and/or mental illness have access to treatment is; how do we simply and convincingly communicate to Ohio’s leaders why providing access to treatment is both the fiscally sound AND compassionately right from the heart choice to make?
This coming year looks to be an extremely contentious election period, that may well set the stage for the 12-13 biennial budget; which by all accounts shapes up to be far more difficult than the 10-11 biennial budget. So during the next 12 months it is imperative that we work together to develop, educate on, and advocate for a platform that will ensure that as decisions are made that there is a clear understanding of the diseases of addiction and mental illness, and that TREATMENT WORKS AND PEOPLE RECOVER!
We will also need to work to make sure that we focus on the important and long term issues that will impact the behavioral health system for years, vs. getting distracted by short term problems that often portend to be urgent, yet do more to distract us from the real issues in the long term.
I look forward to working on both the challenges and opportunities that will come our way in the next 12 months, and hope 12 months from now we will all be able to look back on 2010 and say; it was a GREAT year for individuals in need of alcohol, drug addiction and mental health services!
Have a GREAT 2010!!
Cheri L. Walter
Chief Executive Officer
Posted in CEO Minutes |
January 1st, 2010
Articles
- “OF-1-MIND Pre-Survey Executive Summary”
Orman Hall, MA, Executive Director, Fairfield County ADAMH Board and
Cheri L. Walter, MA, LICDC, CEO, OACBHA
Tags: of-one-mind
Posted in Newsletter |
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