A4
THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, AuguST 12, 2021
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
SHANNON ARLINT
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
GUEST COLUMN
Lawmakers rethink approach to behavioral health
O
regon is experiencing a behav-
ioral health crisis that is touch-
ing the lives of nearly every
resident.
Many of us have directly experi-
enced the difficulty of finding treatment
for ourselves or a loved one. Others
have witnessed the growing frequency
and severity of individuals experienc-
ing crises on our streets, and parents,
teachers and students have seen the ris-
ing levels of behav-
ioral challenges in our
schools.
We have all seen the
problem, but our com-
munities have not been
equipped with the tools
and the funding to
KATE
respond adequately.
LIEBER
In 1995, Oregon
closed Dammasch State
Hospital with the prom-
ise that this was the
start of a movement
away from institution-
alization, and toward
community-based care
for vulnerable Orego-
ROB
nians with mental health
NOSSE
challenges.
Unfortunately, over
the last 25 years we have not made
good on this promise. We have not
invested in a holistic system for behav-
ioral health that can meet the needs of
people in their own communities. Peo-
ple with behavioral health needs are
“stuck” throughout the system — wait-
ing for beds at the Oregon State Hospi-
tal, stuck in the State Hospital because
they cannot be discharged due to a lack
of community placements, stuck in jail,
or homeless and thus with no way to
recover.
Our state struggles with high rates of
substance use disorder, overdose deaths
and suicide. Mental Health America
ranks Oregon 48th in the country due
to our higher prevalence of mental ill-
ness and lower rates of access to care.
Oregon has the 11th highest youth sui-
cide rate in the United States, and from
January to June 2020, at least 339 peo-
ple died of a drug overdose in Oregon.
None of this is good. Oregonians
need and deserve better access to qual-
ity, culturally, linguistically and devel-
opmentally appropriate services.
Throughout the legislative session,
advocates for patients, health care pro-
viders, hospitals and health systems all
came to legislators with the same mes-
sage: we need transformational change
and significant investment to deliver
adequate behavioral health care for
Oregonians.
Here is how we begin to deliver.
Voters approved Measure 110 in the
fall of 2020, which moved $200 mil-
lion in funding to substance use dis-
order treatment, transforming the way
we deal with addiction in this state. To
properly confront the crises Oregonians
The Oregon State Hospital in Salem.
THE gOAL OF THESE INVESTMENTS IS TO
CREATE A SySTEM IN BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
THAT WORKS FOR PATIENTS ACROSS OREgON.
ONE THAT IS SEAMLESSLy INTEgRATEd WITH
PHySICAL HEALTH CARE, WITH MuLTIPLE
ENTRy POINTS, ‘NO WRONg dOORS’ ANd AS
FEW gAPS AS POSSIBLE.
face, we need to treat addiction and
mental illness like medical conditions
and not crimes — these investments are
a big step toward that goal. The Legis-
lature is fully committed to implement-
ing this ballot measure.
Improved budget forecasts and fed-
eral aid also opened the door to finally
think in a transformational way about
behavioral health as a whole. With the
help of advocates across the state, we
were able to pass a $350 million behav-
ioral health package for Oregonians.
The investment package broadly targets
four main priority areas.
First, it will fill some of the gaps
and support the community needs we
already know exist, like expanding
access to crisis services.
Second, it will fund a surge in our
workforce, helping improve condi-
tions for those already doing the work
and attracting new workers from more
diverse backgrounds. This will lead to
improved cultural and linguistically
appropriate services, and help Orego-
nians find the behavioral health care
they need — wherever they are.
Third, it establishes a fund for com-
munity innovation, where local stake-
holders can determine the most press-
ing needs in their community. Too
often we have approached behav-
ioral health with a “one-size-fits-all”
approach — these investments will
allow local stakeholders to collaborate
with others in their region and propose
projects that will better serve patients
and reduce the strain on the entire
system.
Fourth, the package creates a trans-
formation fund to align and trans-
form the behavioral health system to
ensure greater system accountabil-
ity, outcomes and funding alignment,
clear roles and responsibilities and ulti-
mately sustainable funding for appro-
priate and quality services.
The goal of these investments is to
create a system in behavioral health that
works for patients across Oregon. One
that is seamlessly integrated with phys-
ical health care, with multiple entry
points, “no wrong doors” and as few gaps
as possible.
We will know we have succeeded
when patients have timely access to ser-
vices at all levels, and when we see
reductions in houselessness, emergency
room visits, hospitalizations and over-
doses. The transformation we need will
not be achieved with these investments
alone, as we expect more investments
will be needed in future budgets, but this
package will put Oregon on a path toward
patient-centered care that is simple,
responsive, equitable and meaningful.
With this approach we hope to look
back on 2021 as the year we began true
transformation of our behavioral health
system. Over the next several years, as
these investments take shape, we hope
every Oregonian will begin to see the
difference.
State Sen. Kate Lieber, a Beaverton
democrat, and Rep. Rob Nosse, a Port-
land democrat, co-chaired the Joint
Committee on Ways and Means Subcom-
mittee on Human Services during the
2021 legislative session. This guest col-
umn was originally published in the Port-
land Tribune.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Facing reality
ost of us value facing hard truths.
Unfortunately, these days many peo-
ple refuse to believe reality.
Republican leaders across the coun-
try are passing racist and anti-democratic
laws to restrict voting in 20 states, with
more planned, as the GOP clings to power
despite being opposed by a majority of
voters nationwide.
These same people, plus many others,
are spreading lies about the Jan. 6 insur-
rection. They deny what we saw on televi-
sion that day: The insurrectionists intended
to stop Congress from counting electoral
votes. They wanted to overthrow the elec-
tion, and prevent the traditional peaceful
transfer of presidential power.
Many Americans refuse to believe that
the COVID-19 pandemic has killed 4.3
million people across the world. They
ignore centuries of science, and decades of
research, that produced the vaccines, and
predict future pandemics.
Your members of Congress need to
hear from you. Urge them to pass the For
the People Act immediately, to protect our
right and ability to vote, end gerrymander-
ing, limit campaign donations and more.
Urge them to support the U.S. House
select committee investigating the insur-
rection and the misconduct by the Depart-
ment of Justice under President Donald
Trump.
Urge them to support full funding for
the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention for national and worldwide vac-
cine development and distribution, and for
much-needed relief for Americans across
the country.
Your voice matters. Congressional con-
tact info is at incoregon.org
M
We must face reality, and work together
to make a better world.
LAURIE CAPLAN
Astoria
Separated
rom the dawn of humankind, we
have known there is strength in num-
bers. Man was also quick to learn there
was power for one who controlled those
numbers. Many thousands of years later,
this country was started by humans flee-
ing control. It has been written they were
wanting to practice the religion their own
way, without fear of persecution.
Less than 100 years later, the word
was out about this place of grandeur but,
more importantly, freedom of some type
of overlord. Like all good things, with
it comes the corrupted. But out of the
American Revolution came words writ-
ten into law. Since that time, the world
has been using America as its gold stan-
dard for what a free democratic country
looks like.
Why? Within 50 years Americans were
burning people at the stake from fear of
religion. Kidnapping hundreds of thou-
sands, and forcing them into slavery,
because of religious ideology. In every
conflict this country has been involved
in, religious judgment has been the cause.
There’s no true religion that puts one
human above or below another.
This small community has over two
dozen different churches; that shows the
diversity of beliefs this country has. That
is why the U.S. Constitution makes a
point to ensure the separation of church
and state. Shouldn’t it be illegal for any
religious group to solicit funds for a polit-
F
ical agenda? The church already pays no
taxes. Please keep our religion in politics
apart for freedom’s sake.
TROY HASKELL
Astoria
Hold the mayo
recent article, “Port Commission
backs letter of caution on sea otter
reintroduction,” (The Astorian, Aug. 5) left
me wondering what do sea otters have to
do with the moribund Port of Astoria, or
its tourist import operations?
Since all we have left is tourism, fish-
eries and craft beer, I would imagine a sea
otter sighting would be an additional thrill
for the cruise ship visitors on shore leave,
same as wild and free orcas are to the San
Juan Islands. Such is the leisure business.
These newsworthy monkeyshines
appear to be another example of a coma-
A
tose public agency held in thrall to the
seafood lobby. What Sen. Jeff Merk-
ley has proposed is only a study, another
make-work for government bureaucrats
and, really, one pipe dream is as good as
another.
Why wouldn’t our Port explain to its
constituency why sea otters could be a
threat to port infrastructure? Put another
way, is a viable otter population a potential
threat to a nascent urchin fishery?
I am left wondering: Was this news, or
public relations stenography? And, to the
point, what is the substance of the West
Coast Seafood Processors Association
letter?
I always get the drift, because it’s in the
wind. But I pay a lot of money to support
the Port, and all I really got from this news
item was another baloney sandwich. Hold
the mayo.
GARY DURHEIM
Seaside