County Officials, Public Lobbying Group Plead for More State Funds for Mental Health Needs

As the honored luncheon guest at the Hall of Administration, Dr. D. Michael O’Connor, state director of mental health, listened intently Tuesday as the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors pleaded its case for more county hospital beds for the mentally ill.

The night before, O’Connor was also the center of attention at a church hall in South Los Angeles during a meeting of the newly formed Los Angeles Advocates for Mental Health. He heard from speakers suffering from mental illness and from professionals who care for them.

The twin settings were drastically different, but the disparate groups--the politically powerful county executives and the neophyte lobbyists for mental health--shared the same intent: to persuade O’Connor to try to pry some additional dollars from the Deukmejian Administration.

“We had a good discussion of the issues, and we’re going to be working with the board. That’s all I can say,” said O’Connor as he emerged from his meeting with the supervisors and county health officials.

‘Critical Need’

Calling the additional psychiatric beds a “critical need,” Mike Antonovich, Board of Supervisors chairman, said the meeting enabled O’Connor and county officials to participate in “a frank discussion on a plan to increase the (number) of acute beds in Los Angeles County.”

Officials cite county statistics of 300 beds for the mentally ill per 100,000 population in 1955 and 16 per 100,000 currently.

County officials are pressing the state for another 200 to 600 hospital beds, more than half of which would go for in-patient psychiatric treatment at county hospitals. The cost to the state would range from $18 million to $45 million, with the county share for the added beds estimated at $2.5 million to $7.5 million, according to officials.

But while Antonovich described the request as a priority, O’Connor remained noncommittal, just as he had Monday when he heard an even larger request for state dollars from the Los Angeles Advocates for Mental Health.

Seek Funds

The group, which includes mental health contractors, psychiatrists, public health officials and families of mentally ill patients, urged O’Connor to seek another $180 million over the next three years for mental health programs.

The state Department of Mental Health currently spends about $550 million of its $1-billion budget on local mental health programs throughout the state. The state, which funds 90% of such local programs, spent more than $220 million in Los Angeles County last year. According to mental health advocates, at least another $57 million a year is needed.

“This is not an unreasonable request,” said Richard Van Horn, executive director of the advocacy group. “It’s not off the wall, and he knows it’s not off the wall. But it is going to be a helluva push . . . to get more funding.”

Chronic Shortage

In hopes of convincing O’Connor, members of the group spoke of the chronic shortage of dollars and services for the mentally ill. The speakers included one woman with a schizophrenic son and a man who spoke movingly about the mental illness he has suffered for the last 25 years.

Acknowledging the need for more dollars for mental health care, O’Connor urged his audience to lobby for the added funds but tempered his words with a reminder that the hoped-for dollars may not be there given the Deukmejian Administration’s priorities in other areas, including education and public safety.

But some still blamed the state for a lack of commitment to mental health care.

“I think people are getting more and more frustrated--parents, patients and professionals,” said Dr. Richard Elpers, former county mental health director and now a professor at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. “We’ve seen a lot of promises not kept and hopes dashed. And I think people are getting desperate.”