State cuts to hit those with mental disabilities

More than 100 Linn and Johnson County residents with mental disabilities - and possibly more than 200 - face the loss of state financial assistance in February.

Under the 10 percent across-the-board spending cut announced by Gov. Chet Culver, the Department of Human Services must cut $2.26 million from the program, or services to an estimated 1,200 of its 4,200 clients with mental disabilities.

The cuts could effect 100 to 200 people in Linn County and 35 to 50 in Johnson County, officials said.

Counties are just starting to provide the DHS with information that DHS officials will use to make the cuts.

“This is a monumental task because we have 300 people to review,” said Chris Artley, Johnson County's director of mental health services.

The planned cuts will affect people who are receiving services under a court order. The services include supported living, outpatient treatment, medication and vocational training.

“Pretty much any service we do for any person with mental illness,” said Craig Wood, Linn County's mental health services director.

The program funds services for about 300 outpatient clients at the Abbe Center for Community Mental Health in northwest Cedar Rapids, said Cindy Kaestner, its executive director.

“We do not know yet who it will affect until the state gets the information from the counties,” Kaestner said. “We're trying not to get too far ahead of ourselves because we don't want to panic any of our clients.”

As reported last week, the cuts could include the 15 men with mental retardation who were found living in a neglected “bunkhouse” in Atalissa.

The men, some of whom were malnourished when a state worker found them at the city-owned building last February, are now living at Waterloo group homes, their costs covered by state payments.

Culver's press secretary Troy Price said again on Tuesday that Culver wants to preserve support for the Atalissa men.

“The governor is committed to doing whatever he can to preserve essential state services as much as he can,” Price wrote in an e-mail. “We know that many people rely on this program. That is why the governor is working with the Department of Human Services to identify additional funds before the new rules - and therefore the cuts - take effect in February.”

Laura Porter-Soukup, trust specialist for the Muscatine County Department of Community Services, said she has not been informed of any changes in services for the men.

The men were brought to Iowa from Texas by Henry's Turkey Service to work at the West Liberty Foods processing plant. Assistant Muscatine County Attorney Dana Christiansen said he's still reviewing the case for possible criminal charges,

Kaestner, from the Abbe Center in Cedar Rapids, hopes the group's story can help focus attention on thousands of others.

“This has been a such subject of discussion, I think they're trying very hard to find the money,” she said. “I'm trying to hold onto that hopefulness.”