County To Invest $17M Into Helping Homeless Patients With Mental Illnesses
The county’s work will target Medi-Cal patients who are homeless, or at risk of losing their housing, and who have a serious mental illness, particularly the elderly.
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Sonoma County, Feds To Spend $17 Million On Care For Mentally Ill Homeless Residents
Sonoma County wants to help thousands of mentally ill people who are homeless or at risk of becoming so by bolstering aid programs that serve them under a new initiative supported through $17 million in federal and local funds. The four-year effort is intended to address the outsize strain that a small number of people with complex medical problems place on public resources by providing them with more comprehensive care — treating their mental health problems in tandem with immediate physical health issues, for example. It’s one of 15 similar programs across California approved last month by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Morris, 7/11)
In other news from across the state —
The Mercury News:
Former Santa Cruz County Therapist Sentenced For Molesting Child Patients
A 70-year-old former Capitola child psychologist, who recorded himself molesting patients and had 1,200 files with child pornography, will serve 16 years in prison, a Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday. [Willian] Visher pleaded guilty to seven counts of child molestation and one count possession of child pornography to forgo trial. (Todd, 7/12)