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Home > Healthcare |
Don Knabe. Working for you. |
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TOP STORY - FEBRUARY 9, 2010
Knabe Seeks Service Improvements For Mental Health Patients |
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The
three public hospitals operated by Los Angeles County receive more
than 14,000 patients every year who are on involuntary psychiatric
holds, commonly known as a “5150.” Of these 14,000 patients, more
than half arrive at County hospitals in the back of police and
Sheriff patrol cars, even if they have not committed any crimes. In
response, Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe is seeking a way
to provide better transportation services to patients on 5150 holds
and save money from the expensive costs of moving patients in law
enforcement vehicles.
“Over the years, I have heard numerous accounts from deputies on the
difficulties they encounter responding to calls to assist residents
with severe emotional disorders who are a danger to themselves and
others,” said Supervisor Knabe. “This is an extremely difficult
population for law enforcement to assist since the conditions and
needs of the individual often exceed the knowledge and training that
most law enforcement personnel receive.”
“Law enforcement units may not be staffed and equipped to transport
5150 detainees. The unit may be off its patrol for an extended
period while taking the detainee to hospital. This is not the
highest and best use of police resources. There should be a better
way to transport a mental health detainee than handcuffed in a
police car.”
The motion introduced by Knabe today is based on recommendations
initially suggested by the County’s Emergency Medical Services
Commission. Knabe’s motion specifically asks how taxpayer funds
could be saved by finding better means of transportation for 5150
detainees. It will also explore other aspects of 5150 pre-hospital
care.
Since 1996, Supervisor Knabe and College Hospital of Cerritos have
hosted the annual “Stepping-In Conference,” where mental health
professionals teach law enforcement personnel how to best serve
psychiatric patients.
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Supervisor Knabe honors Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, in recognition of being named one of the Top 20 Rehabilitation Hospitals in the United States by U.S. News and World Report. |
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Don Knabe. Working for you.
Health Care
Accomplishments |
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Funding Expansion of Community Clinics
 Supervisor Don Knabe was pleased to announce that the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $15.57 million in funding to expand community clinic capacity throughout the County. Seven clinics in the Fourth District, including The Children’s Clinic and the Westside Neighborhood Clinic in Long Beach, will receive almost $5 million for expansion. The total allocation to Fourth District clinics is $4,795,653, of which $4,016,808 will go to expanding primary care services and $778,845 will go to new and improved infrastructure at the clinics. Included in the overall expansion are 12 new exam rooms. |
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Making Progress on New MLK Hospital
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors announced that the County of Los Angeles has made considerable progress on a proposed plan, involving the University of California (UC) and State of California, which would lead to the eventual opening of a new Martin Luther King, Jr., Hospital in Willowbrook in late 2012. Over eight months ago, the Board of Supervisors directed Los Angeles County Chief Executive Officer William T Fujioka to enter into discussions and negotiations with UC and State officials to pursue the possibility of creating a new hospital that would serve residents of South Los Angeles. Discussions with top officials from the State and UC have led to a series of new and positive developments. Everyone involved contributed their best thinking to come up with a proposed County-UC-State framework that, if executed successfully, would lead to the opening of a new, seismically safe 120-bed Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital.
Saving on Medical and Hospital Costs
A County program that has created permanent housing opportunities for dozens of homeless individuals has resulted in a cost avoidance of over $800,000 in medical and hospital costs in the past year. The Access to Housing for Health pilot program (AHH) was created by Supervisor Don Knabe in December 2006 and utilizes $3 million of the $80 million in funding for Countywide homeless prevention initiatives that was approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2006. |
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Providing Additional Funding for Norwalk Clinic
The Norwalk Regional Health Center, which provides free and low-cost medical care and social services to the residents of the surrounding communities, will be able to accept over 1,500 additional medical visits after the Board of Supervisors approved an agreement with JWCH Institute, Inc. These newly-funded visits will go primarily to uninsured or indigent adult patients that are not eligible for any publicly funded programs. Responding to Clinic Closure Plan
Supervisor Knabe was deeply concerned by the County’s Chief Executive Officer’s recommendation to close and/or reduce clinic services throughout the County, as a means to balance the Department of Health Services Fiscal Year 2008-09 Budget. The proposal failed to address the effect that closing clinics would have on the already overworked emergency rooms throughout the County. The emergency care system at both private and County hospitals is already in a fragile state, and further increasing the workload of our emergency rooms would create a time-bomb waiting to explode. Supervisor Knabe introduced a motion that asked the CEO to come up with a comprehensive list of all possible options to balance the Health Department’s budget. |
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Increasing Capacity at The Children’s Clinic
Supervisor Knabe provided The Children’s Clinic with $100,000 to assist in expanding its new clinic to 32 rooms to expand capacity in the Long Beach area.
Improving Access to Mental Health Funding
Supervisor Knabe and the Department of Mental Health conducted a workshop to address funding opportunities that are available to community public social service providers through the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). The workshop served as a forum to address the MHSA’s progress in Los Angeles County and future funding opportunities.
Improving Mental Health Programs for the Homeless
The County approved a $500,000 grant to the City of Long Beach to improve and enhance specialized services for homeless veterans in the Long Beach area. The grant includes a specific provision of $140,000 for the establishment of a County-funded mental health coordinator position within the City’s health department to ensure that residents, especially those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, have a greater awareness of mental health resources.
Fighting Sexually Transmitted Diseases across the County
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has launched an innovative campaign to reverse the increase in cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia in the County. The public education campaign, funded by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, repeatedly and strongly urges young, sexually-active African American women and Latinas, gay and bi-sexual men to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) every six months.
Protecting Community Health
Supervisor Knabe and leaders from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health participated in the ribbon-cutting and dedication of a new laboratory. The public health lab is the County’s focal point for testing, observation, and rapid response on hundreds of thousands of human specimens and environmental samples. The lab is unique among other local public health laboratories in California due to the volume of testing it performs. The laboratory conducts more than 700,000 tests on 400,000-plus specimens per year.
Downey Activist Joins County Commission
Supervisor Don Knabe appointed Downey resident and community leader Wendy Welt to be his appointee to the Los Angeles County Commission on Disabilities. Welt is a motivational speaker who performs seminars for various corporations, organizations and churches. She also volunteers to help children who have been abandoned, disabled, or abused.
Boosting Services at the Norwalk Regional Health Services
Supervisor Knabe joined local health leaders to christen the new “S. Mark Taper Foundation Building” at the Norwalk Regional Health Center and celebrate the Foundation’s $300,000 gift that will help boost health care services at the facility, which opened in February 2006.
Funding New Mental Health Services Clinics
The Board of Supervisors approved a multimillion dollar expansion of mental health services and funding. Because of the $4.4 million in new funding, the County’s Department of Mental Health will be able to operate 10 additional outpatient clinics and one additional specialty clinic that will provide an array of services to older adults, 60 and over.
Expanding Mental Health Services to Native American Population
Expanded mental health services have come to a Cerritos facility that specializes in treating Native American residents, thanks to $1 million in new funding approved by the Board of Supervisors. The $1 million funding increase will allow the Counseling Center and the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health to better meet the needs of the Native American community across the County that are underserved, as well as provide intensive services to those in need of that level of care.
Acquiring New Mobile Hospital for Disaster Response
The County of Los Angeles will acquire a new mobile hospital to provide support to local hospitals in the event of a large-scale disaster such as an earthquake, pandemic influenza, or bioterrorism incident, thanks to a Homeland Security grant accepted by the Board of Supervisors.
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Health Clinic Reopened
Five years after County budget cuts forced its closure, the Norwalk Regional Health Center is back in business after the successful lobbying efforts of Supervisor Knabe. Under the operation of JWCH, a local non-profit healthcare provider, the reopened Norwalk Clinic is now providing free and low-cost health services to thousands of area residents who were previously without local services.
Combating Cervical Cancer
Supervisor Knabe directs the Department of Public Health to begin public education efforts for the new cervical cancer vaccine and to examine making the vaccine available to low-income County residents.
Protecting Mental Health Funding
When a financial review revealed unused Federal funding was available to the County Department of Mental Health, Supervisor Knabe worked to ensure the extra funds were used for providing additional care to patients and not for paying the department’s administrative costs.
Local Voice in Ambulance Services
In 2006, County contracts were put out for bid that provide emergency medical and ambulance services to dozens of local cities. Before the County awarded the contracts, Supervisor Knabe directed an effort that gave a voice in the decision-making process to the cities and city leaders who would actually be served by the ambulance companies.
A Milestone for Newborns
The Safe Surrender Program celebrates its fifth anniversary. Since its inception, the lives of 47 newborn babies have been saved throughout Los Angeles County.
Streamlining of Public Health
The future of healthcare in Los Angeles County reaches a major landmark with the successful spilt of Public Health from the larger Department of Health Services. The lobbying and legislation for a separate Department of Public Health was the work of Supervisor Knabe. A separate department has allowed faster response to public health emergencies and better preparation for bioterrorism and outbreak threats.
Expanding Housing Services
Supervisor Knabe funded a new 38-bed transitional housing unit within the state-run Metropolitan Hospital in Norwalk. This new facility provides a facility to transition mental health patients from an institutional lockdown setting into a more mainstream, community housing setting.
Local Flexibility for Mental Health Funding
2006 saw the creation of a stakeholder engagement process in the allocation of mental health funding. This effort by Supervisor Knabe ensured that local groups who use County funds to provide mental health services have the flexibility to tailor the use of those funds to the specific mental health needs of patients in local communities.
Solutions for ER Overcrowding
When South Bay hospitals reported the strain non-medical psychiatric and mental health patients were placing on local emergency rooms, Supervisor Knabe responded by creating the Long Beach Mental Urgent Care Center. This specialized facility is literally a psychiatric emergency room, providing services to mental health patients who need immediate care but don’t have physical injuries. The Center was the first of its kind in the County and has since reduced the strain on local emergency rooms.
Service Agency Anniversary
Torrance-Based Pediatric Therapy Network celebrates its 10th anniversary. Supervisor Knabe is a long-time financial supporter of the therapy center, which provides services to over 1,200 special needs children every week. |
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Led effort to monitor and evaluate action taken by key emergency responders to a commuter train collision where 9 people died and 200 injured.
Directed efforts to make County HIV Commission a fully-independent and more influential policy formation group.
Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation saved from closure due to Supervisor Knabe’s leadership and commitment.
Funded mobile dental van serving residents of Long Beach and surrounding cities.
Provided County support to Latina Suicide Prevention Project.
Led efforts to open the first dual diagnosis unit at College Hospital in Cerritos for clients with developmental and mental disabilities.
Expanded funding for Long Beach Transition Age Youth Collaborative to bring mental health social service providers together to create seamless plans of care for clients transitioning from children’s to adult care.
Led efforts to enhance client run services and activities by initiating programs at Long Beach, San Pedro and Rio Hondo Mental Health Centers as part of an overall plan to transform general outpatient mental health services to recovery focused services.
Led the Department of Mental Health’s efforts to expand its 24/7 psychiatric mobile response teams including the one working with the Long Beach Police Department.
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Led efforts to improve fairness and objectivity in contracting for HIV/AIDS services.
Led efforts to monitor impact of hospital and emergency room closures.
Called for greater efficiency and accountability in County’s contracting and procurement practices.
Knabe creates joint advocacy strategy to protect Medi-Cal patient’s access to hospital and physician care.
Provided funding and celebrated opening of HIV/AIDS dental clinic at Long Beach Comprehensive Health Center.
Contributed to the opening of a youth center operated by the Whittier Rio Hondo AIDS Project. |
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Funded special adaptive use playground for children with disabilities at Rancho Los Amigos.
Sponsored Stepping In Conference, an educational forum designed to assist law enforcement, mental health professionals and other social services providers with issues related to persons with mental illness.
Supervisor Knabe involved with the formation of the Children’s Dental Health Clinic to provide dental services to children. |
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Created Safe Surrender program in Los Angeles County to reduce new cases of newborn abandonment.
Established first mental health Crisis Intervention Center in Long Beach. Facility is now a model for others that are being created in other areas of the County.
Opened HIV/AIDS counseling and testing site in Redondo Beach to serve all Beach Cities.
Led efforts opposing the closure of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
Led efforts supporting Measure B which provided funding to prevent closure of public and private trauma centers throughout Los Angeles County. |
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