Mental Health crisis creates vicious local circle; most vulnerable left adrift

Neighbors provided this photo to The Dalles City Council to illustrate their concerns.

By Tom Peterson

The State of Oregon’s care for the mentally afflicted has been on the slide for 20 years, according to some officials who came together on Monday night at a City Council workshop in The Dalles. 

Leaders from Sherman Wasco and Hood River counties were attempting to find solutions as the houseless and mental health issues have spilled into the streets during the past decade. Most noticeably in The Dalles on Pentland Street between Second and Third Streets next to The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce.

The ability to monitor and house people with mental imbalances has been “ripped out of the communities at a local level by the state and never been restored,” said Hood River County County Commissioner Karen Joplin who has a degree in Psychology. 

Oregon’s general defunding of services is at the root of the current situation, she said.

Deputies, police, and the regional jail are all dealing with people who suffer from mental health issues one call at a time, trying to find services and places to better manage their health needs.

But the system is full of gaps.

A houseless person suffering from depression, for example, requires a stable environment in a shelter with food for weeks to months with medications and counseling services to address personal issues such as addictions or past abuse. Otherwise, chances are high they will return to the streets.  

That kind of continuity in care simply does not exist anymore, said Wasco County Sheriff Lane Magill, who has been examining the issue for two decades. 

There are just 173 beds for people with acute psychosis currently in all of Oregon, Magill said. There are 4.2 million people in Oregon.

He said the bottom began to fall out when the acute facility in Pendleton closed decades ago.

A state facility exists in Hermiston, the 16-bed Lifeways Inc., but most others are along the I-5 corridor.   

ADDICTION

Those using alcohol or drugs must be completely sober before a mental health evaluation can even be done, said The Mid Columbia Center for Living’s Al Barton. Those evaluations are mandatory by the state to assess if a person needs to be housed in a psychiatric facility. But there are no places where a mental health patient can clean up for two to five days - the time needed to get clear of methamphetamine, he said.

HOSPITAL HIRES SECURITY STAFF   

Mid Columbia Medical Center has and is hiring security staff to assist with psychiatric patients, said Emergency Room Director Jayme Mason.  Those patients’ symptoms can range from mild depression to those experiencing thoughts of suicide or hurting others. 

For example, the hospital had been housing a suicidal juvenile for the past seven days and was still waiting to hear from the state on when proper mental health care would be available, Mason said. 

The hospital’s hands are tied in some regards. Mental health patients, once cleared for medical issues, can not be kept in the hospital against their will - even if they have suicidal or homicidal thoughts.

They can walk out the door.

MONTHLY MEETINGS

The Dalles Police Chief Patrick Ashmore and Wasco County Sheriff Lane Magill meet monthly with the MCMC and Center for Living staff to discuss individual patients and issues. 

AT THE JAIL 

People with mental health issues often end up at NORCOR, said Sherman County Sheriff Brad Lohrey.  But under COVID-19 guidelines, the daily population has been reduced from about 110 to 65 or 70, leaving less room. “NORCOR is not a mental health facility,” he added, however, out of necessity, the jail has set up an eight-bed mental health unit that is tended by a single clinician for 10 hours a day. Lohrey and others said they were unaware of any other jail in the state that had a similar program of that size.

IMPACT ON THE ECONOMY/ NEIGHBORS 

Seven neighbors living in the historic Trevitt Neighborhood sent letters to The Dalles City Council, stating the conditions near the community meal sight, 315 W. Third St., are getting worse.

In a letter from Rian Beach: 

“My Name is Rian Beach and along with my wife and two-year-old we live on 2nd Pl behind the Chamber of Commerce, a block down from St. Vincent’s Community Meals, and right next to Mill Creek. We purchased this home in 2019 and have witnessed the homeless / St. Vincent problem continues to worsen over the last year in our neighborhood. Recently, we engaged our neighbors to document problems they have had in the neighborhood… Theft, trespassing, fires, littering, fights, yelling, disorderly conduct, harassment, public urination and defecation, illegal parking, the decimation of public and private property, and blocking sidewalks are just some of the themes that run through this neighborhood on a consistent basis. 

Neighbors provided this photo to The Dalles City Council to illustrate their concerns.

Mill Creek is a garbage dump from 2nd street to the 6th street bridge. My wife and I alone have called the police over 20 times in the last few months. How is this acceptable? So, why does the city value one business, St Vincent’s, over the safety and cleanliness of an entire neighborhood and business district? Any other business attracting these kinds of problems would be run out of town and given citations. This is a safety issue, a sanitation issue, property value issue, and we are tired of no one taking this seriously.” 

Business owners, a museum, The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce are saying it is impacting the local economy, scaring potential tourists and customers. 

Chamber President Lisa Farquharson said her staff now works in pairs because she said they feel unsafe.   

“We’re losing dollars every day,” she said of the local economy. “I know that sounds not like we’re uncaring … I have the whole community at heart.” She said she had seen people “drop their drawers” in the grass at the Chamber, and tourists at times are unwilling to get out of their vehicles to go into their office out of fear.

Rodger Nichols who sits on the board for the Original Wasco County Courthouse said they lost admissions because tourists were afraid to depart busses coming from cruise ships. “We get paid by the customer,” he said. “We want to be compassionate. We would also like to find an answer.” 

Stratton Insurance’s Breanna Wimber said the situation tore at her heartstrings. She has witnessed people have breakdowns, scream, and hit the side of their building. “As a business owner, you just call the police. The police have been amazing in responding. We appreciate the heck out of that.” She and another at the meeting also commented on finding fecal matter as well as seeing people urinating in public.

COVID IMPACTS 

The Center for Living, prior to the pandemic, would assist up to 25 houseless people per day providing a space to do their laundry, get food and receive services at their facility on Webber Street.  
“That’s been significantly reduced,” Barton said. “We can take three to four at a time.”

ADVOCACY

The Dalles Mayor Rich Mays said he would set up group meetings with stakeholders in search of solutions to the issue.  
“The big challenge is to get ourselves to Salem,” said Wasco County Commissioner Steve Kramer. “We need to do a better job and partner with advocacy groups to make all of this come to fruition. That is the part we are missing right now.”