"It's fun to have money again!"

ADAMH BOARD EXPANDING SERVICES
$2.7 million from levy to help most-underserved
Wednesday, August 23, 2006 NEWS 01C
By Encarnacion Pyle THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

After years of cuts, the Franklin County ADAMH board will spend nearly $2.7 million next year on new programs to reach seniors overwhelmed by loneliness, refugees tormented by memories of war and severely mentally ill teens aging out of foster care.

The board's trustees voted unanimously last night to spend 4 percent of its new levy money on 20 programs to provide addiction and mental-health services to the county's most-underserved populations. Altogether, the agency's providers hope to reach more than 10,500 new clients.

"It's fun to have money again," said Jonathan Sadler, a trustee for the Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Board.

But even with the new levy, ADAMH won't have enough money to serve everyone in need, Chief Executive Officer David A. Royer said.

"As fast as the community is growing, we'll always be behind the curve," Royer said.
Last November, county voters approved a 10-year, 2.2-mill levy that will generate nearly $65 million a year for the board, beginning next year.

It is the same millage that voters approved for the current levy, which expires in December. But because state law rolls back millage as property values rise, the existing levy will raise only about $44 million this year.

The new levy will provide 46 percent of the agency's 2007 revenue, with the remainder of the board's money coming from the state and federal governments, including reimbursements for Medicaid.

A majority of the new money will be used to maintain services, but ADAMH hopes to invest $66 million over the levy's 10-year life in additional treatment, $6.5 million in new prevention services and $800,000 to build 250 apartments for people.

Every year, 250,000 county residents -- an estimated one in four people -- suffer from a treatable addiction or mental illness.

Of the nearly $2.7 million to be spent on new ventures, half will go toward nine treatment programs.

Southeast Inc. will receive the most money: $200,000 to serve people who cycle in and out of court, jail and the mental-health system and $100,000 for combat veterans, disaster survivors, refugees and other trauma survivors.

The program will target people such as the Lima Company Marines, based in Columbus, who saw some of the heaviest fighting in Iraq and took the most casualties, said Sandra Stephenson, Southeast's executive director.

Maryhaven will receive $125,000 to help 94 central Ohioans each year through their physical withdrawal from alcohol and other drugs so they can seek treatment, and $125,000 to expand services to individuals addicted to heroin and other opiates.

Netcare, the county's 24-hour emergency mental-health center, Children's Hospital Behavioral Health and Ohio State University will use $225,000 to help as many as 2,000 youngsters at risk of harming others or committing suicide.

"One in five youth have a mental disorder and are at risk of suicide, violence, accidental injury and substance abuse," said Allen Mosser, Netcare's president and chief executive officer.
Counseling and medication help.

"But of all the children evaluated, two-thirds don't ever make it to treatment," said Kim Davis, an administrative director at Children's Hospital.

North Central Mental Health Services and Franklin County Children Services will team up to help kids who become too old for foster care and who are at risk of falling through the cracks. The groups will receive $200,000 from ADAMH and $250,000 in federal foster-care funds.
"Due to lack of support, many kids may turn to unhealthy relationships, drugs and alcohol or experience isolation," said Eric Fenner, Children Services' deputy director.

A little more than a fourth of the money will be used on prevention programs targeting children and senior citizens, including poor blacks suffering from arthritis, diabetes and other medical problems.

An additional $550,000 will go to the Columbus Area Inc. mental-health association to create a client-run drop-in center, and Maryhaven will receive $75,000 to develop a training institute for mental-health and substance-abuse counselors.

ADAMH also plans to spend $825,000 on five future projects that are being fine-tuned, including providing mental-health services for Latinos at a new West Side clinic and expanding psychiatric services at OSU.

In addition, the board will set aside $450,000 to fund innovative programs as they arise.
epyle@dispatch.com