by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
A mental health program at UNM Hospital, which serves about 200 patients, will be closed by the end of April.
Steve McKernan, CEO of the UNM Hospital, said the program, called Intensive Outpatient Services, is undergoing more of a reorganization than a closure.
"We're just redirecting our resources so they're used more efficiently," he said.
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In order to be called an intensive outpatient program, the course had to meet certain requirements, McKernan said. For example, patients had to spend at least nine hours per week in the program, he said.
"Some of them were, but there were a fair number that weren't coming for that full time," McKernan said. "We were having a hard time running that program under the rules that it was set up to run under."
The hospital should leave the program unchanged, said Alica Blake, a former patient of the program.
"It seems like they're closing it because they're not making a lot of money," Blake said. "I think they're seeing it on a different level. I don't think they're looking at the human factor."
Brynn Baca, another former patient of the program, agreed.
"It's very clear and obvious to me that it's all about the money," she said. "All I know is that the program I've been through is very effective."
McKernan made the decision with patients' interests, not funding, in mind, he said.
"The question was, do you keep running a program in which you're not able to use your resources most effectively?" he said. "This is a more efficient way to provide as good of services to patients."
Instead of being enrolled in the program, patients will be enrolled in various other mental health programs at UNM Hospital that fit their needs, he said.
Baca said the hospital and society in general have the wrong priorities.
"I pray that someday soon the system will value people's lives more than money," she said.
The program is meant to be a transition between inpatient and outpatient care, McKernan said.
That transition can be vital, Blake said.
"When people come out of the inpatient ward they're pretty raw, so sometimes it's pretty hard for people to even make it through the weekend," she said. "It's an amazing, awesome, vital program. It changed a lot of stuff in my life."
McKernan said all the patients enrolled in the program will be able to finish, but the program is not accepting any new patients.
The program has about 10 staff members, including therapists and psychiatrists, he said. They will be reassigned throughout the hospital, he said.
The program has been running for about a year, and has a budget of about $350,000, he said.
Blake wants the public to be aware of the hospital's decision, she said.
"People should know what's going on before programs close, and the people who are making the decisions should be accountable," she said.
Closing a mental health program could have a serious impact on Albuquerque, because mentally ill people who cannot get the help they need pose a risk to themselves and others, Blake said.
"I think people need to know about it, because it will affect the community as a whole," she said. "If people aren't getting help, there's going to be a ripple effect."
