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Friday, December 16, 2005
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OUR OPINION: TOWN MEETING Changes are coming to BRHSC
Brainerd area residents with questions about the future of the Brainerd Regional Human Services Center should mark Monday on their calendars. That's the date of a town meeting set up by Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, to address concerns about plans to decentralize and in some cases outsource services at that site.
The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Brainerd Eagles Lodge.
The Crow Wing County Board has established a task force to deal with the center's transition. That task force also plans to conduct public hearings in late February, according to Commissioner Terry Sluss, a member of the group.
Issues that have been raised in discussion about the changes include security issues when particular individuals with mental illness run afoul of the law and pose a potential threat to the community; the best use for the Brainerd Regional Human Services Center facilities; the loss of good-paying union jobs at the BRHSC; and the quality of treatment for individuals with mental health problems.
Mike Tessneer, chief executive officer from the Minnesota State Operated Services Division, is scheduled to be at the meeting.
There's no question the state and federal governments are changing the model for treatment of the mentally ill to smaller hospitals. The era of the big campuses of state hospitals is gone. What will be decided is how those patients and the community will be served and what ramifications these changes have for the surrounding area.
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