Hostage Crisis Shines Light on State Services

Listen to Leland Eisenberg’s attorney Randy Hawkes, and you get the idea that Eisenberg was some Kafka-esque character scrambling around for help.

5:00 talked to the governor’s office, the governor’s office referred him to the local Congressperson’s office. That office said they believed it was more likely a state problem. Mr. Eisenberg called the Department of HHS...He was telling people he didn’t want to hurt anybody. He had tried to be admitted to a hospital, but wasn’t admitted. ....I think he felt he had run out of options.

It’s not clear that’s actually what happened.

The Governor’s Office denies it sent Eisenberg to Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter’s office.

In a statement, Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester said it never refuses anyone for lack of money or insurance.

If Eisenberg got bounced around Riverbend Community Mental Health Center CEO Louis Josephson says he wouldn’t be surprised.

12:51...we’ve had situations here in Concord in the last year or two also where there is a dangerous situation someone is involved with the police. The family says we’ve tried to get this person help. We couldn’t get them help.

Josephson says problems are endemic with the state’s ten community mental health centers that serve people with little or no healthcare coverage.

Wait lists are long, care is inconsistent and eligibility requirements are restrictive.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness gave the state a D in its 2006 national report card, the lowest grade in New England.

Josephson says Riverbend in Concord can only offer very limited services to 50% of the people who come through the door.

The state’s most recent budget did include a modest rate increase to the centers for the first time in ten years.

But that’s not enough, at least for the Attorney General’s Office.

:19...there is a concern that there is a dramatic lack of...mental health treatment and durg and alcohol abuse counseling.

That’s Deputy AG Bud Fitch.

His office and the Department of Corrections have teamed up with Hillsborough County to pilot a program that offers outgoing felons counseling and medication.

Fitch says felons can get services only after they’ve landed jobs and can pay for them out of pocket.

Nobody in New Hampshire mental health circles is surprised that the state’s services are inadequate.

If anything, advocates and state officials hope the Rochester incident shows the public how important the issue is.

Health and Human Services’ Nancy Rollins says she sees a need for more staff, more beds and some kind of program to treat people like Leland Eisenberg.

:03 what we don’t have in NH, is the capacity to take an individual who is actively drinking, on some substance, and be able to get them off those substances and get at the psychiatric issue.

When asked whether she believed the Eisenberg case will generate the political will to improve the system, Rollins said she didn’t know.

House Finance Chair Democratic Representative Marge Smith is sympathetic to the problem.

But she says anecdotes are good for public relations campaigns, not public policy decisions.

23:03 ...Then what we would be doing is sending a message that tomorrow, someone with this need should create an international incident, and the day after someone with another need will create an international incident.

10:54 NH is tough. There are so many competing issues, with school funding and not having a tax in the state. The tax base and the funding base is very small.

Again, Riverbend Community Mental Health Center CEO Louis Josephson.

15:52 we are struggling to keep staff...keep our doors open and meet ever growing demand. And the state needs to face up to that.

But state Representative Marge Smith says it’s too simplistic to blame the problem on a lack of money.

She argues in a state where people want government to pay only for essential services, lawmakers must look to get the biggest bang for its buck.

But when state officials and providers agree services are insufficient, and when someone creates an incident demanding services, does that mean it’s time for a systematic overhaul?

Or is it just another imperfect system in an imperfect world.

Smith says, it’s the kind of question that keeps her up at night.

For NHPR News, I’m DG.