Eye on the Air, Middletown Eye Radio, every Friday, 1-2 p.m. on WESU, 88.1 FM and live online.
Today's Guests
Barry Simon, Executive Director, Gilead Community Services speaking how a downturn in the economy and state budget cuts affect services to individuals with mental health issues.
Barbara Senges, Assistant Superintendent of Middletown Public Schools on assessment of CAPT and Mastery Exam results.
2 comments:
Ed, I'm glad you have focused on the community-based mental health programs and how they are taking a real hit this year. But Barry Simon's comments left a lot to be desired.
First, he sets up State services against private sector providers like Gilead (he said "the state funds itself at 100% levels but is cutting us by 20%...") This is an unfortunate and false distinction. Connecticut has a mix of public and private offerings and they should not be pitted against one another. And many state facilities are also under the knife, some slated for closing altogether if Gov. Rell has her way. Barry knows too well what will happen to the clients if Riverview Hospital closes: they will be shipped out of state or will not get any care at all.
Next, Barry says he is "perplexed" by the budget process and what the political leaders in Hartford are doing. But there is a real fight going on and the choice is clear: if we want to fund important services like Gilead, we need to change the tax system so the wealthy pay their fair share. Maybe this is what perplexes Barry, since he said not a word about requiring the well-off to share the budget crisis burden.
Finally, he talks about the support he gets for Gilead (like Jackson Chevrolet) but totally fails to mention the months of lobbying performed by Gilead workers and their union, District 1199. We have been at the State Capitol since DECEMBER fighting for all health care services (public and private) and the proper way to fund them. (For instance, see the 2nd video on this website http://www.betterchoicesforct.org/
From Barry's interview, one might think that the solution is to give a bigger piece of the pie to Gilead by taking it from State services (which are not all "institutions," Barry, they are community-based as well).
But instead of robbing Peter to pay Paul, shouldn't we be working together to make a bigger pie?
Steve Thornton
District 1199
Steve:
I appreciate the point of view, and welcome you to come talk about it on the radio (mieyeed@gmail.com).
To be fair, I don't think Barry Simon ever suggested a solution was to take state funding and give it to Gilead. He merely pointed out the inequity of funding identical state programs fully, and cutting out-sourced programs.
Secondly, Simon praised Gilead workers. While he didn't mention their lobbying efforts, he said they were the best people he could imagine working with. If Gilead employees have indeed been to the capitol to lobby for proper funding, that's commendable.
I think working together for an equitable solution is the answer, no doubt. The problems don't go away just because a line item is cut from the budget.
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