(March 27, 2008)--The number of psychiatric beds throughout the state is shrinking and putting a strain on public mental health facilities and state hospitals. It's taking a toll on law enforcement officers too.
"Right now it's pretty tough on both the local level and the state level," says Kristy Lohr, the program director at the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center in Waco.
Kristy Lohr is the person who has to find out how to handle that problem at MHMR in Waco.
She says the lack of beds is keeping mental health patients from getting the help they need.
"And now they've gone from where they're in the community, in the jails, in the homeless shelters. They no longer have a place," says Lohr.
Usually if there's not enough room or if a patient has more severe needs than what MHMR can offer, they're sent to the state hospital, but it's being plagued with the same problems as local centers too.
"Now the state has limited the funding and the limited the number of beds to the point where we have to really balance making sure there's not only a bed available but we have the funding to pay for that individual to be in that bed," says Lohr
That wasn't the case 50 years ago.
According to the treatment advocacy center, in 1955 there were 340 beds for every 100-thousand people.
By 2005, the number dropped to 17 beds for every 100-thousand.
And because mental health patients sometimes can't get help, they are often times found in the criminal justice system.
And when they need help, police are the ones that provide the transportation.
"When it's deemed that person needs hospitalization they have to follow that through until that person is seen by a doctor and admitted to a facility. And so often times that can tie up law enforcement officers for hours on end," says Lohr
In 2007, the Waco Police Departmentt alone had to transport three patients to San Antonio, 12 to Temple, and 58 to Austin
In all, they had to transport more than 80 patients for the year.
MHMR Division Director Tom Thomas says, one way to break the cycle is to get more funding so they can provide better treatment.
"We would be able to provide uh about 52 additional local beds for either short term crises, residential, transitional housing," says Thomas
Funding has decreased one percent every year for the past ten years
Representative Dunnam says things should have changed at least five years ago saying,
"I believe that the funding needs of the agency have not been properly met by the legislature, which is one of the reasons I fought to restore that funding every session since 2003"
Both Lohr and Thomas agree, funding can make a big difference in what's seen as a huge problem.
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