Asheville Citizen-Times Calls For Hooker Odom's Dismissal

Hooray for the AC-T for reading the situation correctly:

AC-T: "The chaos and mismanagement of mental health reform under N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Carmen Hooker Odom justifies last week’s call by the Western Highlands Network for her resignation."
[...]
"A consultant hired to evaluate the state’s mental health delivery system said in January that the state provides inadequate, ineffective and inconsistent treatment; lacks sufficient crisis intervention and community detoxification services; and has a poorly functioning system for screening people with mental illness and providing community-based support.

The consultant said the state comes in dead last when it comes to per capita spending on mental health, but it ranks No. 1 in admissions to state hospitals.

Funding for mental health is controlled by the state legislature, but it is Odom’s job to clearly assess the needs and ask for the money to address them in her annual budget request. Instead, according to state Sen. Martin Nesbitt, Odom failed to even include in her budget request about $19 million the legislature designated for local management entities last summer."
[...]
"It’s time the system began to work efficiently and effectively. In six years, Odom has not been able to rally the resources and support to make that happen.

It’s time to give someone else a chance."

The Secretary is expected to release another new rate for Community Support services today. The Secretary's precipitous, uninformed decision to retroactively slash rates without consulting providers or recipients is a clear indication of her incompetence and enmity towards our state's system. After slashing the rates, the Secretary ordered a cost analysis.

I repeat, the Secretary cut rates then chose to examine costs.

This is brazen incompetence of the highest order, and Governor's Easley's unfettered support for the Secretary indicts his commitment to providing even passable mental health care to hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians.

I know you've all written emails and made phone calls, and I'm asking you to do so one more time. Please pass the AC-T's editorial along to Governor Easley and the Raleigh gang.

Governor Mike Easley - (919-733-4240).

Lt. Governor Bev Perdue - (919-733-7350)

Secretary Hooker Odom - (919-733-4534; fax: 919-715-4645)

Deputy Director Mark Benton - (919) 855-4100; Fax - (919) 733-6608