U.S. Rep. Crawford visits OakRidge Behavioral Center, says better mental care system needed

OakRidge Behavioral Center executive Director David Johnson said Thursday (March 10) that the job of any behavioral center is to provide a safe place when people don’t feel safe.

U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, toured the behavioral center on 7th Street in West Memphis, visiting with Johnson and other staff about mental health-related issues. Crawford said his colleague, U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., has looked at the mental health issue and the federal government’s approach to it for several years. Murphy sponsored H.R. 2646 – the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2015 – last year to look at the overall system.

“He has been working in the trenches, not just when a headline happens but all the time,” Crawford, a co-sponsor for the bill, said of Murphy’s work.

On his website, Murphy said nearly 10 million Americans battle some sort of serious mental illness, including depression and schizophrenia on a daily basis. The work on the bill began in 2013, with the information found enlightening, said Murphy, who was a psychologist in the private sector and now serves in the U.S. Navy Reserve Medical Service Corps where he works with service members who suffer from brain injury and post traumatic stress.

“The investigation, which included public forums, hearings with expert witnesses and document and budget reviews, revealed the federal government’s approach to mental health is a chaotic patchwork of antiquated programs and ineffective policies spread across numerous agencies with little to no coordination,” Murphy said. “As documented in a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, 112 federal programs intended to address mental illness aren’t connecting for effective service delivery and “interagency coordination for programs supporting individuals with serious mental illness is lacking.”

Crawford’s wife, Stacy, who also toured the center, is a licensed professional social worker. Crawford said his wife also has helped to educate him on the issue.

“Everything I know comes from her,” Crawford said.

OAKRIDGE INFO
The center with 144 employees opened in early 2015 and helps young people and the elderly with acute and residential care.

It was built around a home already on the property, with buildings set aside for young people and elderly. Director of Marketing Brad Hyde said the acute area works with children ages 6 to 17, while the residential area helps people over age 55. The work involves helping children with suicidal issues as well as helping adults with dementia or Alzheimer’s related diseases.

The children – officially students at West Memphis – attend classes at the center. The center has 12 geriatric beds, 12 acute adolescent beds and 28 beds for psychiatric residents, Johnson said. Hyde said the center, which is a private, for-profit facility, has an average daily census of about eight juvenile and 20 non-juvenile patients each day.

Johnson said the children have often had some sort of tragedy, unspeakable horror or have faced abandonment before arriving at the center. An average stay in the acute area runs about a week while the geriatric stay can average about two weeks, officials said.

Overall, Crawford said a main concern is the reimbursement rates for services through the federal Medicaid program. For instance, the school based mental health services fee, which can pay from $4.97 to $16.80 per visit, is optional for people under the age of 21. Arkansas follows federal requirements for the “screening and diagnostic services to determine physical or mental defects in recipients under age 21.”

On the Medicaid issue, Crawford said there needs to be a better look at how Medicaid funding is spent and administered around the country. Johnson said the center has been fortunate so far to do well on the services provided to people.

Johnson said there was once a huge stigma for people seeking mental help.

“I have spent my career in this field. Over time, the stigma has diminished but we still have a long way to go,” Johnson said of the issue.

Hyde said the stigma especially with young people has lessened in recent years.