Secretary Lanier Cansler appointed Beth Melcher, PhD, and Steven Jordan to key leadership posts in Mental health/Developmental Disabilities/and Substance Abuse Services (MH/DD/SAS) within the NC Department of Health and Human Services today.
In a press release dated July 21, 2010, the highly anticipated announcement states, “Melcher has been named as Assistant Secretary for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities,and Substance Abuse Services Development. She replaces Michael Watson, who is being promoted to the position of Deputy Secretary for Health Services.
Jordan will take over the position of director of the state Division of MH/DD/SAS. He will succeed retiring director, Leza Wainwright, who is stepping down from her position after 32 years of state service. According to Sec. Cansler:
- As the state moves forward in its efforts to build a strong network of community-based and community accessible services, “we felt an imperative need to seek out a new generation of leadership for MH/DD/SAS services with strong roots in local services."
- Beth Melcher and Steve Jordan are the leaders we need at this juncture. They possess a deep and thorough understanding of how community level services operate. They know the system’s strengths and weaknesses from a frontline perspective, and their insights and knowledge will be critical as we move forward in our continuing effort to provide the finest level of MH/DD/SAS care in North Carolina.
Melcher, a clinical psychologist, is best known in the mental health community and state government for her advocacy work with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) NC, which she served as its executive director from 1994-2000 and as public policy director from 2000-03. From 2005-07, she was a consultant to the N.C. General Assembly’s Legislative Oversight Committee on MH/DD/SAS.
Melcher has headed the provider agency, Recovery Innovations North Carolina, as President/CEO since 2008.
Since 2001, Jordan has been state director for ResCare – North Carolina, a private provider that delivers services and supports to people with disabilities and special needs youth. ResCare, which provides services nationally, operates a program in North Carolina with more than 450 adults and more than 50 children.
Jordan will replace the retiring Director,Wainwright. John Tote had been chosen for the job, but he withdrew after being appointed in May because of a flap over tax problems at the MHA-NC.
Melcher and Jordan will take over positions in the DHHS Division of MH/DD/SAS at a time, when morale among state personnel providing services is low and public concerns about the provision of services for its disability groups is great. Investigations by the Raleigh News and Observer and the Charlotte Observer into lack of community psychiatric beds and long delays in patients getting psychiatric services have highlighted the deficiencies in recent years.
Comments
Lanier Cansler has made two very bad decisions. The first is hiring a ResCare person. If there is any group that has NOT represented the move for community inclusion, it is Res-Care. This company represents an unprecedented growth designed to make money via facilities where people are not included in a meaningful way in the community. Also, a NM lawsuit is only one instance of lawsuits the company has incurred. In December 2009 an Albuquerque, N.M., jury returned a verdict of about $54 million (later lowered to 15.5 million) in damages after a man was raped by a Rescare employee. Before that, in 2008 the company increased its legal reserves after becoming involved in four different lawsuits. They have been accused of not paying employees properly, contract irregularities and client abuse. In 2005, the company was convicted of Medicaid fraud and ordered to pay back over $2 million. This is the 2nd time Cansler failed to “vet” a potential state employee.
The second error is appointing a former NAMI director, who was instrumental in helping to create the debacle in this state that we now live with. But then again, she will fit right in with Cansler who was also responsible for the state’s current state of affairs. Of course, if this state wants to please the drug companies in their unabashed desire to make money from giving drugs to everyone, then hiring a NAMI person might be a good decision. Maybe the state will receive more money from drug companies now. See Senator Grassley's investigations into NAMI and the millions NAMI has received from drug compaies over the years.
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