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link: Central Regional faces new troubles :: WRAL.com

Raleigh, N.C. — Surveyors visiting Central Regional Hospital in Butner this week found the state psychiatric facility does not meet federal standards that allow it to be reimbursed for treating patients on Medicare and Medicaid.

Director Mike Hennike said Friday afternoon that inspectors working on behalf of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told him that they found the hospital’s fall prevention policy – designed to prevent unintentional falls by patients – was not being followed the same way throughout the hospital.

Link: Perry defends AMHC board - News | DailyAdvance.com

Pasquotank County Commissioner Cecil Perry defended the Albemarle Mental Health Center Board of Directors this week, claiming board members relied on information that eventually proved to be wrong.

“I truly think that most people cannot understand the fact that when you are presented data, you just automatically assume that the person presenting the data has done the entries correctly,” said Perry, who serves on the AMHC board. State officials, at the board’s request, took over AMHC about two weeks ago. A recently completed audit or “targeted review” of the organization by the state’s Division of Mental Health found AMHC on the brink of insolvency after burning through millions of dollars in reserves in the past two and a half years.

Link: Goldsboro News-Argus | News: Cherry on state list for cutbacks

Faced with a looming shortfall that’s expected to hit $3 billion by the end of the fiscal year, state department heads were ordered earlier this month to present budget cut proposals of up to 7 percent to Gov. Beverly Perdue. Included in the package put together by the Department of Health and Human Services, were cuts to two of the state’s psychiatric hospitals — Broughton and Cherry — eliminating 25 beds from the adult services area at both. If ultimately approved, such cuts would mean a savings of slightly more than $6 million, but also the loss of a combined 102 jobs.

Mental health professionals in Western North Carolina are seeing a rise in the demand for service and the economic downturn might be the reason.

Western Highland Network manages state mental health funds for an eight-county region in Western North Carolina. When the state privatized mental health coverage a few years ago, it funneled mental health funds through agencies that put the funds in the hands of private companies.

Western Highlands has seen a 40 percent increase in the amount paid out to local mental health providers, and a 17 percent increase in the number of people served in recent months.

A Swain County man who scuffled with a Bryson City police officer during a September 2008 arrest pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor resisting arrest charge in District Court Jan. 8.

Jacob Grant, who was 25 at the time, was sentenced to 12 months’ unsupervised probation plus court costs. A second charge of assaulting a government official was dismissed.

The incident took place Sept. 15 in front of Anthony’s Italian Restaurant in Bryson City as officer Leon Allen was attempting to take Grant into custody on an involuntary commitment order.

Witnesses said the officer pepper-sprayed and beat Grant with a police baton after he refused to leave willingly. Several forwarded written complaints to Bryson City Police Chief Rick Tabor alleging that excessive force was used.

Raleigh - A bill filed in the General Assembly today would give each living victim of the state’s eugenics program $20,000, among other benefits. The bill was filed in the N.C. House by four Democrats including Reps. Larry Womble and Earline Parmon of Forsyth County.

A study sponsored by four Forsyth County nonprofit groups found that more transparency and accountability is needed to improve the quality of mental-health services.

Two executive summaries of the report by Community Resource Alliance was posted on the Web site of United Way of Forsyth County this week. The Web site address is www.forsythunitedway.org. The other sponsors are CenterPoint Human Services, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust and the Winston-Salem Foundation.

Morganton - Companies continue to hemorrhage jobs as economic conditions slide downward.

And the number of people receiving unemployment benefits has reached an all-time high, it was announced Thursday.

While kids may appear unaffected when their parents run into financial difficulties, counselors say parents should be honest with their children when talking about a job loss or the economy in general.

DURHAM — Volunteers spotted the usuals as they ran flashlights across darkened parks and under bridges Wednesday night, during their annual count of those surviving without homes.

They knew where to find Mike’s plywood shed so close to the Durham Freeway that it shook, and the men who hovered around a fire in a trash can.

But nearby, at Urban Ministries of Durham’s shelter, the volunteers also encountered newcomers hunkered over meals of hot dogs and potato salad. This year’s census of the state’s homeless promises to bring bleak news, as tough economic times throw more on the mercies of strangers.