Benjamin Shors

Spokane County mental health officials may recommend that the county close down its new behavioral triage center, an ambitious but flawed project that came to be representative of the system's financial woes. The county opened the $5.5 million building last year to ease the burden on hospital emergency rooms that had seen a sharp increase in the number of patients with mental illness and addiction problems.

Outstanding debts may force more cuts to Spokane County's mental health programs early next year, and county commissioners are mulling whether to hire an independent team to audit a county system that appears to be in financial shambles. The county system, which provides care to thousands of impoverished Spokane County residents with mental illnesses, instituted drastic cuts this fall after officials learned it faces a $7.5 million budget shortfall.

After a months-long search for a director of community services, Spokane County chose a familiar face: former director Christine Barada. Barada left in 1996 after serving two years as director, a position in which she oversaw the county's mental health system, and housing and community development programs.

Spokane Mental Health announced it will lay off one-fifth of its work force this month, the most dramatic of several staff reductions at social service agencies in the city. The nonprofit is informing 65 workers that their jobs will end Sept. 30, as the agency attempts to realign its budget after losing $3.4 million in funding. Spokane County officials say the cuts are necessary because its public mental health system faces a $7.5 budget shortfall that stems from changes in Medicaid – the state-federal program that provides health care for impoverished Americans.CEO David Panken said the cuts "will likely have serious consequences for one of our community's most vulnerable populations."

After a week of daily rallies by its students, a Spokane high school for teenagers with mental illness will open next week despite deep cuts proposed for its budget. Mental health officials cautioned parents and students Wednesday night that therapists, who since 1989 have worked hand-in-hand with teachers at the MAP school, will likely have their hours significantly reduced if the proposed cuts are enacted on Oct. 1.

Two alternative high schools for students with mental illnesses are scheduled to close this fall, part of a series of drastic cuts planned for mental health services in Spokane schools and the larger community. "These are students with serious psychiatric disorders," said Bob Brandon, program administrator for MAP and New Bridge alternative schools, which enrolled about 50 students a year. "I don't see how they are going to survive in traditional school environments."

For the second time in the past year, a program that serves elderly residents with mental illness has asked Spokane County commissioners for emergency money to keep it afloat. Elder Services will be unable to continue caring for 420 people through the end of the year unless it receives $180,000 in funding, according to Nick Beamer, executive director of Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington.

With a waiting list of 5,600 people, the Spokane Housing Authority has stopped taking names for federally subsidized Section 8 rental housing, citing cutbacks and an ever-growing number of families in need. Today, a person signing up for Section 8 rental assistance – the largest federal program of its kind in the country – will not receive help for at least four years in Spokane.

A Spokane support group for victims of clergy abuse will ask today for the resignation of a 73-year-old Catholic priest who allegedly physically assaulted boys at Morning Star Boys' Ranch. The Rev. Joseph Weitensteiner's use of physical discipline at the boys' home south of Spokane "went beyond what was reasonable," said Michael Ross, co-founder of the Spokane chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

An autopsy concluded that a 7-year-old Stevens County boy, whose adoptive mother claimed he had a bizarre drinking disorder, died of dehydration last winter. The autopsy said the dehydration was due to an undetermined cause, according to Spokane Medical Examiner Sally Aiken. Aiken said the autopsy can not be publicly released – only the cause and manner of death.

This spring, a 24-year-old Yakima woman filed a $4 million tort claim against Eastern State Hospital, alleging that a psychiatric nurse threw her to the floor and punched her in the face. The woman, Katie Teresa Sheneberger, suffered such emotional distress that "her ability to respond to treatment has been seriously undermined," her attorney wrote in a March 15 filing.

Facing a threat of legal action, the state's Department of Social and Health Services announced Tuesday it will spend as much money as needed in the next six weeks to ensure the "health, safety and well-being" of children. The agency made the announcement just days after receiving a letter from child-welfare attorneys who warned they may ask a court to intervene if more than $3.4 million in recent cuts to programs for children are not immediately suspended and reviewed.