Watson asks Central Health to pony up
Mayor says hospital district needs to help on homelessness.
Mayor Kirk Watson says Central Health, the public hospital district that spends over $400 million a year on indigent health care, isn't pulling its weight in addressing the mental health crisis playing out on city streets.
In a letter to Geronimo Rodriguez, chairman of the Central Health Board of Managers, Watson listed a number of investments he believes the public hospital district must include in its upcoming budget.
Watson, a key advocate for the creation of Central Health back in the 90's, wants the agency to play a bigger role in No Wrong Door, the initiative the city launched earlier this year aimed at those on the street making frequent trips to jail or the emergency room due to severe behavioral health issues. A recent analysis by the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute estimated that group of roughly 950 people cost local taxpayers $137 million a year.
To that end, Watson wants Central Health to contribute funding for a local no-refusal mental health crisis center where law enforcement can take people in a state of mental health crisis.
Here are some other things he wants from CH:
