Co-Chairs:
Andrea Cooke, MSW
Dennis Hopkins, Psy.D.
Attendees:
Dennis Hopkins, Andrea Cooke, Patty Johnstone, James Kellerman, Greg Donathan, Meredith Kiss, Shirley Davis, and Dan Wasmer.
Andrea called the meeting to order at 10:02am. Introductions were made. In attendance were Dennis Hopkins, Andrea Cooke, Patty Johnstone, Support Programs Director at NAMI DuPage, James Kellerman, Executive Director of Call for Help, Inc., Greg Donathan, Assistant Deputy Director of Hospital Operations, Meredith Kiss, Deputy Director of Hospital Operations, Shirley Davis, IMHPAC member, and Dan Wasmer, Deputy Director Region Services..
Meredith wanted to include in the discussion that the state hospitals are not in disrepair as Dennis had been led to believe and which he reported at the last meeting. Meredith said the only facility she had been concerned about is Madden. She reported that it had been updated and was a fall risk. Greg toured Madden recently and found it to be in good shape.
Greg was a new member to the committee and asked what the purview of the committee was. Andrea told him the purview was to look at inpatient facilities in the state, including state hospitals and private hospital, and report on their state and examine what they are doing. Patty then added that our committee also looked at alternatives to hospitalization like living rooms.
Meredith then brought up that jail diversion was looked at with some hospitals admitting people who had committed a crime. Meredith also said some hospitals were surveyed for anti-ligature concerns. So far, only Rush Hospital in Chicago has closed its adult inpatient units for remodeling due to anti-ligature issues.
James asked if there was any way to find out how many inpatient beds there are in the state. He said that in his area (Bellville, St. Louis) there are only two hospitals that accept mental health inpatients. James said he would try to find out where there are inpatient beds.
Patty said that in DuPage County there are five hospitals that have mental health beds: Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Northwestern - Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, Linden Oaks Hospital in Naperville, Glen Oaks Hospital in Glendale Heights, and Hinsdale Hospital in Hinsdale. Patty said she had the information on the number of beds and would have it for the next meeting.
Dan Wasmer said he had a document from Mike Pelletier (DMH) about hospital beds. He suggested that he and James could work together.
Andrea asked how we could find out about IOPs. Patty said she could get the figures on IOPs and PHP programs.
Patty then asked if the committee was looking at 16 - bed hospitals. Andrea said the committee had talked about the idea, but had not looked into it. Dan asked if we were talking about crisis beds. He said Holy Cross Hospital on the south side had crisis beds. Dan also said we could look into Living Rooms. Patty said she participated in a meeting about Living Rooms. She said North Shore University Hospital Systems in Evanston had a stop gap program in the community for connecting people with doctors and appointments after discharge.
Meredith said state hospitals do not offer IOPs . She said it was important to get a collective picture where services are. James agreed. He said we need to see where services are and then we can do some work. Meredith suggested that we end the meeting because there is no more we can do until we know where services are. Andrea agreed.
The group decided that we could not do any more with the agenda without knowing where services were. In the next two months James, Patty, and Dan will bring their information together and report to the committee in October.
Andrea adjourned the meeting at 10:39am.
