At Last, A Call For Accountability At BHD

From Milwaukee County First:

We are all aware that the Behavior Health Division is a train wreck. There have been numerous problems going on out there for years.

Between Scott Walker using the poor and the vulnerable as his stepping stones in his runs for governor and BHD Director John Chianelli’s poor administration, there have been repeated problems at the complex. These problems have ranged from massive overtime and a higher than acceptable number of injuries that can be directly attributed to a severe shortage of staff. The staff shortage was for “money saving” purposes, but not only did not save any money, but put people in harm’s way needlessly.

More recently, we have seen the story on how a patient was allowed to repeatedly sexually assault a young woman who was also a patient. Instead of self-reporting these critical incidents, they were glossed over until they were discovered in an audit. The county faced losing $60 million in Medicare funding due to Walker’s and Chianelli’s poor leadership.

This was quickly followed by another story showing that Walker’s privatized security was not providing much security at all. Patients and staff in the walk-in clinic were regularly put in harm’s way as patients in a crisis were able to bring weapons, including guns, into the clinic.

And who can forget the privatized food service and their insect-infested food?

I have just learned tonight that our complaints are not falling on deaf ears!

I was just notified that on Thursday (April 29) at 11 am, there will be an event at BHD. Present will be County Supervisors Chris Larson and John Weishan, as well as State Representatives Tamara Grigsby, Jon Richards and Sandy Pasch. They will be calling for “major new accountability over the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division.”

We applaud these leaders for showing true leadership in demanding some accountability from Walker and his administration.