Davis Announces Health Grant Awards, Appointments
Gov. Gray Davis (D) made several announcements this week regarding grants for mental health and substance abuse programs and appointments to health care positions. Following is a list of the announcements:
- Mental Health: Davis announced Wednesday $1 million for 2001 Mental Health Wellness projects to assist people with developmental disabilities who have been dually diagnosed. The seven Mental Health Wellness projects are part of the Department of Developmental Services' Wellness Initiative, which funds regional centers each year for projects to enhance health care for people with developmental disabilities (Office of the Governor release, 4/4).
- Substance Abuse: On Monday, Davis announced a $8,059,000 increase in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Block Grant for counties to use in treatment for substance abusers who have a mental illness. In addition, counties will receive an $11.9 million increase in Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant funds for drug, testing, prevention and HIV/AIDS services in county substance abuse programs (Office of the Governor release, 4/2).
- Health and Human Services: Davis has announced the appointment of Eugenia Chough as assistant secretary of programs and fiscal affairs for the Health and Human Services Agency. Chough will be responsible for developing and evaluating programs and fiscal policies for departments under the jurisdiction of the agency. Chough has worked as the White House assistant director of domestic policy council and has served in HHS (Office of the Governor release, 4/4).
- Women's Health: Davis has appointed Elizabeth Saviano as head of the Office of Women's Health, an office of the Department of Health Serives. Saviano will oversee the review of all research policies, guidelines and recommendations in the area of women's health. Currently, Saviano is an associate with the law firm Hanson, Bridgett, Marcus, Vlahos & Rudy (Office of the Governor release, 4/4).
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