Mental hygiene clients are those who need special counseling and treatment for problems such as suicidal tendencies, violence, or psychological assistance for resolving problems concerning drug and alcohol addiction. These hygiene clients may check voluntarily into treatment facilities like Northwood, in which services such as Medicaid or Medicare will be billed for their treatment and medications. As Bowser said, they are then “out of the system”, requiring county funds for their care.
Other clients may enter Northwood involuntarily, like when a family member feels threatened and files a petition with the sheriff’s department to intervene on their behalf. The court system may deem a person in need of psychological assessment, in which case the prisoner will be transported to Hillcrest at Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling by the sheriff’s deputies. The treatment and housing for these clients is billed to Wetzel County.
By state law the prisoner/client must be transported by the sheriff’s deputies and remain in their custody until the treatment facility takes over. Therein lies one of the problems. While the deputies are busy transporting and guarding the potentially dangerous client, Wetzel County law enforcement is left shorthanded. The deputies must remain with the client sometimes for hours, taking up valuable time from the protection of the citizens of Wetzel County and adding to the overall cost of law enforcement. As Sheriff James Hoskins stated, “We are sworn to protect the citizens of Wetzel County.” He said they cannot do that if the deputies are in Wheeling.
Part of the difficulty is there is no secure lock-down facility to house the treatment clients in Wetzel County and they must be transported to Wheeling for assessment to see if the client is medically fit, or the client is a danger to himself or others.
As Byard said, “We have no lock-down. If they leave our facility, we have to call the sheriff.” And the process of finding the client starts almost back at square one, requiring more county law enforcement man-hours to locate the person who left the facility.
To further complicate the problem, Northwood, who is contracted with the county to assess and treat clients from the Mental Hygiene Program, must attempt to assist all clients, whether they are Wetzel County residents or not. Therefore, Wetzel has paid for the care of residents of Wood, Marshall, and other counties, although their numbers have decreased recently, according to Hoskins.
The commissioners, Hoskins, Byard, and Bowser discussed several solutions. The first, and perhaps the easiest to attempt to fix, is Wetzel County paying for out-of-county residents’ care. Commissioner Don Mason suggested that the commission be sent the addresses of all clients sent to Northwood whose billing will be paid for through the county. Then the county of the client’s residence will be billed for their care. Hoskins will also share his log addresses to assist in the billing being forwarded.
To solve the problem of deputies being spread too thin is more complex. Everyone present at the meeting Tuesday agreed that a local lock-down facility is sorely needed. Then transport time and expense could be avoided, keeping the deputies here in Wetzel County. Bowser stated he did not know what authorization and liability would be involved in creating a lock-down facility in Wetzel County for the mental hygiene clients, but he would check into it and report back to the commission. Hoskins offered, “Overall we may save money keeping them (the clients) at Northwood. Then I can keep the deputies in Wetzel County.”
Converting Northwood to a lock-down facility for mental hygiene clients will not be easy. According to Byard, Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital of Parkersburg made application to be allowed to create a lock-down facility, but they have been on hold for two years. Hoskins added that Northwood needs to discuss their options and decide if they are interested in becoming a lock-down facility.
Byard suggested one option that could be utilized more is teleconferencing which is available for evaluation of clients. Also, Wetzel County Hospital can do some of the medical fitness evaluations and perhaps some of the clients could be cared for at the Northwood offices in Moundsville. However, if the client appears involuntarily, they must at present still be transported to Wheeling.
Bowser stated there have been roughly 60 mental hygiene clients so far this year and each client requires at least three days to evaluate and transport. Sometimes the more complex cases take seven to eight days. Byard will report costs of client treatment to the commission at next week’s meeting at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Hoskins echoed the sentiments of everyone present when he said, “We want to solve this to everyone’s benefit.”