Mental health official talks about cuts

Stay tuned.

That was the general advice the administrator for the state's Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services gave to dozens of family members and advocates of the mentally ill and developmentally disabled during a town hall meeting Monday night regarding looming state budget cuts to services.

Harold Cook also urged the 50 or so people in attendance to talk to their legislators, something Julie Olvera plans to do.

Olvera, 52, said she plans to do whatever it takes to stop Gov. Jim Gibbons from cutting an already depleted mental health budget, which funds services her daughter depends on.

"This is about my daughter,'' Olvera said after the meeting at Rawson Neal Psychiatric Hospital. "I'm glad I came, because now, I'm more determined than ever.''

Olvera's daughter, Christian Sablan, 26, has cerebral palsy. She lives on her own but has a difficult time communicating and has behavioral problems, Olvera said. Sablan has a job earning $1.20 per hour through Transitions, which provides jobs to the developmentally disabled.

If cuts to the state's Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services' budget stand, Olvera fears her daughter will be placed in a group home setting, where she has not fared well in the past.

"She's been in and out of 11 or 12 group homes since 1997. All of them have been just nightmares,'' she said. "My daughter is finally at a place where she is thriving and everyone knows it.''

Cook, who listened to several similar stories, said that services will have to be stretched because of Nevada's financial troubles. The division, he said, is set to lose $30 million in 2009-10. And depending on what other cuts are made between now and Jan. 15 -- the date Gibbons will give his State of the State address -- the division's budget could be chopped by an additional 10 to 20 percent, Cook said.

By then, the division might be in a position where it can only afford to provide basic services such as food, shelter, medications and hospitalization, Cook said.

Additionally, the division is only looking to reduce staffing at Rawson Neal in Las Vegas, Lakes Crossing Center for the Mentally Disordered Offender in Reno, and the Dini-Townsend Inpatient Facility in Northern Nevada, he said.

As of Monday, the division was looking at cutting roughly 100 positions in inpatient facilities.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat anything,'' he said. "We all need to tighten our belts.''

Contact reporter Annette Wells at awells@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.