More and more, under the guidance of DBH’s Rudy Lopez
and his inner circle (Terry Kramer, Jeronimo Breen, Bertha Morris, Janet Serros,
and Debbie Musgrave), many clients and workers are feeling ignored,
marginalized, and intimidated. Services are being cut but is this new
with DBH under Rudy Lopez? Didn’t he
begin slicing into treatment programs and revenues in his first year? Perhaps it only seems more apparent now
because he is doing it more frequently in what appears to be, a panicked
manner because of the state budget. |
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There
are unprecedented numbers of staff actions, so-called administratively
“justified” and disciplinary. There
are unprecedented numbers of complaints to the Employee’s Association by
workers. Why are there all of these
mysterious employee transfers (program managers, clinic supervisors,
therapists), so-called regionalization of programs that were already
efficiently run and effective, elimination of revenue producing and very
helpful treatment programs? Why does
it appear that the department taken over four years ago by Rudy, now appears
to be in the latter stages of dismantling with no apparent replacement of
services, only a lot of talk with little substance? As one clinic supervisor responded when I asked (three years
ago), “what do you think of Rudy’s leadership of the department?” The response was “blub blub blub blub”
(referring to the sound of water taking over a sinking ship). |
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This past summer, numerous adult clients came to the
monthly Mental Health Commission meeting to voice their concerns only to be
insulted by Terry Kramer’s justification for cutting their services..”It costs
us 50 cents per dollar of realignment dollars for adults where it only costs
us 5 cents per dollar for children.”
Therefore he said the director wanted to cut adult services and
increase children’s services. What
followed was a highly moving and emotional expression of these adults feeling
hurt, abandoned, and frightened. Where’s
the character or compassion in that decision? Does he mean that adults are only worth 10% of what children
are worth? I wonder if this type of
program/client value analysis has anything to do with him (Terry Kramer)
being fired from his previous job at Tri-City Mental Health? I wonder why the morale of workers
increased at Tri-City after he left?
I wonder if this has anything to do with the horrible morale at DBH
today? Well it certainly can’t be
only one person’s fault. It all goes
back to the director as well. When
the politicians and actors talk about how much they just love children, they
are smart enough not to suggest devaluing adults in the same breath. Thank goodness Chairman Dr. Julie Stokes saw through the
smoke screen and scolded him and the administration for jerking people around
without any input from clients or staff. Thank goodness the commission
invited the clients to come to the Board of Supervisors’ meeting to voice
their concerns. The thing the
commission did not yet witness is the growing anger of the parents of
children who also cannot get services. Wasn’t
it interesting that all four deputy directors (Terry Kramer, Jeronimo Breen,
Joyce Lewis, and Claudia Rozzi) and the human resources officer (Janet
Serros) were also in attendance? This
is unprecedented at these meetings.
Perhaps it had to do with a tip that a reporter from the Riverside
Press Enterprise would also be there.
Or may it was to attempt damage control after making such sweeping and
not so well thought through decisions.
Or was it to take names of staff that spoke up (as one commissioner
warned administrators and the human resources officer NOT to do)? Well
now it’s December and we have a new governor, things seem to be getting
better. Or do they? Is the budget resolved? Has Rudy dodged a potential meltdown of
which might lead people to look deeper at his financial management? Take heart. Governor Schwarzenegger has promised that once he resolves the
issues at hand related to his campaign promises, he will take a long hard
look at waste in government. In the
future we will be listing all of the links you need to contact the governor
and take your concerns about waste and mismanagement directly to him. If the Board of Supervisors is willing to
listen to your concerns then they will see what you and the rest of us
see. So email your concerns to the
link below. |
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Do you have questions?
Do you know things unique to your treatment as a client, job, clinic,
unit, that seem questionable and may be mismanagement by the director and his
administrative team? Are problems
being swept under the rug and only you can point to which rug the dirt is
under? Do you want your voice
heard? Are you afraid if you speak up
in the open that you will be marginalized by DBH administration? Well you are not alone. Are you tired of the same old company
lines that you no longer believe to be truthful? Maybe you suspected these have been words from a slick
politician all along. Below are listed several important links for you to
visit. One of them is a place to
email your concerns. Yes you guessed
it. These will be collected and
forwarded to the Board of Supervisors.
Some may be posted later on this website. Rest assured, they will be done so in a confidential
manner. |
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FEEDBACK ABOUT DBH TO THIS
SITE |
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A BIOGRAPHY OF MENTAL HEALTH
WORK |
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THE FIVE DISTRICT
SUPERVISORS |
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INFO ABOUT MEETING AGENDAS |
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SBPEA (EMPLOYEE’S
ASSOCIATION) |
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EMAIL FOR SBPEA GENERAL
MANAGER |
You should email only at your own discretion. Anonymous email addresses are suggested as well however personal information will not be forwarded to anyone. This site is by a group of concerned citizens (NOT DBH ADMINISTRATION) who want more oversight and accountability in the Department of Behavioral Health for Rudy Lopez and his friends. If you feel more comfortable
sending your responses directly to the Board of Supervisors, there are links
for all of them on their respective websites with the exception of District
3. Click on their picture and look
for the email link in the left column.
Or you can send your concerns to the Employee’s Association general
manager and that will be completely confidential. However those will probably need to rise to the level of
something actionable, something the current administration seems adept at
avoiding by simply transferring people then denying it’s malicious. I wonder if, for example, someone
commuting from Redlands to Victorville thinks it’s just because their unique
talents are needed there. What about
the selective discipline depending on if you’ve ever questioned administration
on their tactics or decisions? I
think many of us have had just about enough of this kind of crawling in the
dark, behind closed doors, draconian measures that can never be questioned
much less proven. Are these just
coincidences? Are they just
misunderstandings? Well let’s find
out. Start sending your feedback and
let’s tally them and see what the big picture is all about. The advantage with this site
is that all can be presented in mass to the board. Do not email untruthful, slanderous, or libelous material. Express them as questions or as facts that
can be verified. The Voice of one or
two may not be heard. The Voice of
many must be heard. |