Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, November 23, 2010,
Item 22
Number 22 is to receive annual report from Austin recovery on substance abuse treatment.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, bill wigmore.
until a few weeks ago I was the president and c.e.o.
of Austin recovery and I’ll report a little bit more on that happening at the end of my comments.
first I wanted to thank -- thank you, judge Biscoe, for your attendance at our election committee over the last several years.
you've been a faithful steward there.
and we're most appreciative of that.
although Austin recovery is a nonprofit 5013-c we have the distinction of having our election committee, the people who elect our board of directors, be the county Commissioner judge and mayor of the city of Austin and one -- a district court judge and we thank them for that.
I try to come by each year to just give a brief report on happenings at Austin recovery because we are the primary provider of alcohol and drug treatment services to the poor and the working poor in our community.
and it's a very important agency and I know you all are very interested in that subject.
we as an agency serve about 2500 people a year, primarily in residential treatment.
through the county we receive about 700,000 annually to treat homeless men and high-risk women.
and we also receive about 400,000 that comes to us through the community court, again to provide services for people in need of alcohol and drug work.
we recently underwent a $5.3 million capital campaign that was highly successful.
we raised $3 million from our own board of directors and have expanded our facilities to where we now have 250 residential beds to serve the people of this community.
we operate a 28-bed detox unit.
we have a 40-acre ranch out in south Travis County where our men receive services.
and at our edith royal campus we provide services for women and it's also home to family house which is one of the unique programs in this community.
it allows women to bring their children with them into treatment.
and that's always been a barrier for women who need alcohol and drug services and yet they have no safe place to put their children.
so we have about 17 beds there now for those women.
in terms of the accomplishments for this year and things to just be aware of that are happening with us, the department of state health services after about five or six years of funding, steady funding, underwent an r.f.p.
process around the state.
so everything was up for bids.
we had been receiving about $1.9 million, and through the competition we increased our state revenues to 2.6 million.
so that's a significant increase primarily that's going to go to the residents of Travis County.
that included four additional beds for women with children and it also included and maybe most importantly five detox beds.
and this community had really been without state funded detox beds for six years.
and one of the reasons is the state reimbursement rate is so low, it's $150 per day, and we need around the clock nurses and you just can't do it for those rates.
so detox has been wiped out in so many communities around the -- around the state.
we were able to go forward with that grant and receive the five detox beds primarily through the help of st.david's foundation.
and I really want to applaud them and the work that they do in this community for health care services in particular.
so they are subsidizing the salaries of three nurses during this coming year and that allows us then to do that service without losing too much money in the process of doing so.
they also give us a grant annually to help -- help take people who are in Austin state hospital who are there for alcohol and drug services to step them down to come to us, which is a lower level of care once they've been stabilized for psychiatric issues, they now provide beds for them.
it's only about four or five beds, but it makes a huge difference and allows more acute patients to access shoal creek or Austin state hospital.
also I’m sure many of you are aware of family connections and the scandal that happened there a number of months ago that really rocked this community, and I’m happy to report that we were able to rescue a portion of their funding.
that's a $475,000 annual grant that helps women who are in danger of losing their children by providing services to them particularly in-home services, case management services.
so we merged with them and it's their cradles program, and that's been a huge, huge help.
they are in the second year of a four-year grant right now and we hope that we will be able to repeat that and continue to have those services available to the women at risk of losing their kids and because of alcohol and drug use in this community.
we're also -- Texas, as you may know, is -- has the distinction of being 50th among the states in support of alcohol and drug treatments.
so we are at rock bottom.
elliott nashst.
d we were at 49th and we even slipped to the bottom rung there.
it makes it really difficult to provide services and the only way Austin recovery has been able to survive has really been to change our business model, and that is that we take also patients who pay for services and they -- even though those payments are probably the most affordable in the country, it does allow us to realize a small profit from them that then can sub I did dies the ---subsidize the state people who come to us for service, probably about 1,000 people a year who come to us under the state umbrella so it's an important piece of our staying financially viable and for the last eight years we have come out zero at the end of the year and that's our goal, not to lose money so we would go out of business.
and as I mentioned at the beginning of my remarks, this will be my last year.
I hit 65 last month and the -- an episcopal priest with specialized ministry to alcoholics and addicts and I was ordained so the board is going to let me come back after a three month sabbatical and morning as head of chaplain services and continue to represent them out in the community.
perhaps you will be seeing me at events around the community, but I won't be responsible for the 160 employees that we have and making the finances come out even each year and I’m looking forward to that.
I thank you very, very much for the services that this Commissioners court has given to the people in our community.
although Texas is 50th, I know the heart of Travis County has always been to help the poor and the down and out, and wherever you can I think you have done terrific work in aiding the citizens of this community and we should be very proud of the efforts that y'all have done.
so thank you very much for your service.
>> thank you for all your efforts.
>> [applause]
>> any questions?
questions?
so has a new director been chosen?
>> yes, his name is jonathan ross and he has about 25 years experience in the treatment field and in the hospital administration field.
he has been working most recently with maximus and they manage the medicaid contract for the state of Texas.
so -- and he's been a citizen of Austin for --
>> he need to do jump off of that.
>> that's one of the things we're very interested in.
you know, there's a lot of movement towards the whole restructuring of the health care services, that it's going to go towards medicaid if Texas doesn't opt out.
>> maybe we can become 51st.
>> sometimes I think that's the goal.
but he brings a great deal of experience and a wealth of information and organizational experience so -- and he will be here next year giving this report.
so -- and the election committee judge, you will have the opportunity to meet him.
>> okay.
>> thank you so much.
>> thank you for your service.
>> thank you very much.
any questions?
>> thank you and we have some serious challenges that's coming up as we have experience understand the past, but future challenges I think is going to be just as trying.
>> we'll get through it.
we're survivors in this community.
somehow we make it work.
>> okay, but thank you.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> [applause]
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, November 23, 2010 2:020 PM
