Guest MINDSETTER™ Nunnelly: Crisis Intervention Teams - Saving Lives & Decreasing Stigma

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Guest MINDSETTER™ Alex Nunnelly

 

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Photo courtesy of purplemattfish/flickr

When Rhode Island is listed in a group with Alabama, Arkansas and West Virginia, you know something is wrong. That’s where the Ocean State stands when it comes to mental health crisis intervention programs.  Law enforcement officers are frequently the first responders to mental health crises and need not only the right training, but assistance from others.  Without adequate training and support our services are lacking.  The solution?  Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) programs.

People with mental illnesses are not criminals. However, police are often called to defuse a situation involving people with mental illnesses.  People undergoing mental crises respond differently than others in frightening circumstances and without proper training and support responders are put at risk. Crisis Intervention Teams are teams of law enforcement and community members trained in mental health crisis strategies to understand what to do in these unique situations.  Crisis Intervention Teams started in Tennessee and are now incorporated in most states across the country, but not Rhode Island.  These teams, proven to save the lives of citizens and police officers, need to be implemented in Rhode Island as well.  The safety of all citizens, not only those with mental illnesses but also their families, neighbors and our police officers depend on the implementation of Crisis Intervention Teams.

The key difference between CIT programs and current RI programs in place is an emphasis on community. With CIT programs, police work closely with community members and mental health care providers.  While this sounds costly, it has actually proven to save money in the states and cities relying on such programs. How?  Because police respond to fewer calls. Crisis Intervention Team programs rely on mental health care providers and volunteers when police are not needed. These less costly alternatives end up saving officers time as well.

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Now, I do not want to knock Rhode Island law enforcement.  The current program offers hours of mental health training from professionals with additional optional training. This Certified Crisis Response Training offered through the RI Council of Community Mental Health Organizations is a great first step.  Rhode Island has made many improvements in regards to mental health crises resulting in fewer arrests and fewer deaths.  While stigma is decreasing and crises are being handled better, we can do more.  One issue with the program currently in place is that it is not standard across the state.  When it comes to mental health, we need to ensure a standard minimum level; the services offered in Central Falls should not vary from those in Bristol for example.

Crisis Intervention Programs keep both our police force safe and our communities.  Without the proper programing, people with mental illness often end up in jail. Estimates show that over a million Americans in the prison system live with mental illness (justice.gov). These are often people who had one bad day or who could have simply missed their medication.  This includes many who are better off receiving care and treatment rather than imprisonment. Should we not do everything we can to protect some of the most vulnerable among our society and those who serve to keep us safe?

In the wake of the shooting in San Bernardino, the 355th shooting across the country this year alone, police need to have the training to properly intervene. CIT programs do not only help in defusing a shooting, but can prevent shootings and can prevent other severe situations. With mental health facilities closing across RI from OASIS Wellness & Recovery Center in Providence to South Shore Mental Health in Wakefield, more crises could be in our future.  How these crises unfold depends on having the proper training and programs in place.  Crisis Intervention Team programs should be a part of every city and town across the state.  The law enforcement are taking on a task that should be split amongst the community. Time and again, community based approaches have proven to be the most successful and best ways to intervene in crisis situations because they save money, time and lives.  It is time Rhode Island steps up to the same level of care as the majority of this country.

Alex Nunnelly is a senior at Providence College and is studying political science and mental health in Rhode Island.

 

Related Slideshow: Health Data Security Breaches Reported in RI Since 2010

The following are health data breach reports from Rhode Island as listed on the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights website. 

As required by section 13402(e)(4) of the HITECH Act, the Secretary must post a list of breaches of unsecured protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals. These breaches are now posted in a new, more accessible format that allows users to search and sort the posted breaches. Additionally, this new format includes brief summaries of the breach cases that OCR has investigated and closed, as well as the names of private practice providers who have reported breaches of unsecured protected health information to the Secretary.

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#7

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island (RI)

Individuals Affected: 528

Breach Submission Date: 2/16/10

Type of Breach: Other

Location of Breached Information: Paper/Films 

Notes:

On January 5, 2010, BCBSRI was notified that a 16 page report pertaining to Brown University's health plan was impermissibly disclosed to two other BCBSRI agents. The reports contained the PHI of approximately 528 individuals. The PHI involved: first and last names, dates of service, cost of medical care provided, and member identification numbers. Following the breach, BCBSRI recovered the reports, received written assurances that any electronic copies of the reports were deleted, notified affected individuals of the breach, implemented new procedure for all outgoing correspondence, and is in the process of auditing all affected member's claim history to ensure no fraud.

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#6

Landmark Medical Center (RI)

Individuals Affected: 683

Breach Submission Date: 11/30/12

Type of Breach: Theft

Location of Breached Information: Laptop

Notes: N/A

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#5

CVS Caremark (RI)

Individuals Affected: 955

Breach Submission Date: 10/26/12

Type of Breach: Theft

Location of Breached Information: Paper/Films

Notes:

"This involved the theft of a pharmacy log book from one of our stores in Columbia, South Carolina back in October 2012.  We submitted a report to the OCR in compliance with their reporting requirements. The information in the log book stolen from our Columbia, SC store did not contain any medication, credit card, debit card or bank account information," said CVS Director of Public Relations Mike DeAngelis. "At the time, we sent a notice to patients in Columbia whose information was contained in the log book about the theft. There were no fines associated with this theft. CVS has since moved to an electronic verification system in our pharmacies and we no longer use a paper log book."

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#4

The Kent Center (RI)

Individuals Affected: 1361

Breach Submission Date: 9/10/10

Type of Breach: Theft

Location of Breached Information: Paper/Films

Notes:

The Kent Center in Rhode Island reported that paper records of 1,361 patients were stolen in July. In a notification linked from the homepage of their web site, they write, in part:

On July 13, 2010, a briefcase was stolen from the car of one of our clinicians. Documents in the briefcase included client names, dates of birth, and for some clients involved in the court system, limited clinical information. This did not affect all of the clients we have ever treated and the individuals it did affect have been sent written notifications. We learned about this incident the same day and it has been reported to the Providence Police Department. The briefcase resembled a laptop carrying case and we have no reason to believe the documents in the briefcase were the target of the theft. Other items in the car were stolen and the police informed our employee that there were several car break-ins on the same night in the area.

No financial information, such as social security numbers, addresses, insurance information, guarantor information, credit or debit card information or bank account numbers were included in the documents contained in the briefcase.

Source: PHIPrivacy.net

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#3

Rite-Aid (RI)

Individuals Affected: 2082

Breach Submission Date: 3/29/13

Type of Breach: Other

Location of Breached Information: Paper/Film

Notes:

On Feb. 8, 2013, Rite Aid Store No. 10217 located at 236 County Rd. in Barrington, RI, determined that a few boxes containing prescription records were found to be missing during a review of the stores’ records. An exhaustive search of the store was conducted and an investigation was completed to determine what happened to the records, but despite our efforts, the boxes could not be found. 

It is important to note that the hard copy prescriptions missing from Rite Aid Store No. 10217 do not contain any credit card numbers or social security numbers. There is no evidence to support that any customer information has been misused. As a precaution, the company has engaged the world’s leading risk consulting company Kroll Inc., to alert impacted customers via a letter of notification and share with them the proactive measures it has taken to guard against identity theft. Customers who did not receive a notification letter were likely not affected. No files from any other Rite Aid store were involved.

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#2

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island (RI)

Individuals Affected: 12,000

Breach Submission Date: 4/21/10

Type of Breach: Theft

Location of Breached Information: Paper/Films

Notes:

A covered entity (CE) donated a file cabinet containing the protected health information (PHI) of 12,000 individuals before cleaning it out. The PHI included member's names, addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, and Medicare identification numbers. The covered entity (CE) provided breach notification to HHS, the affected individuals, and media, and offered all affected individuals free credit monitoring for a period of one year. Following the breach, the CE sanctioned the employees involved in the incident and held a mandatory training regarding the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rule for all departments involved in the breach. The CE also revised the policy for office moves. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective action listed above.

 

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#1

Woman and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island (RI)

Individuals Affected: 14,004

Breach Submission Date: 11/5/12

Type of Breach: Loss

Location of Breached Information: Other

Notes:

Women & Infants Hospital announced that on September 13, 2012, the hospital discovered that unencrypted backup tapes containing ultrasound images from two of its ambulatory sites located at 79 Plain Street in Providence, RI and 67 Brigham Street in New Bedford, MA were missing.  The hospital immediately began an investigation and conducted a thorough search of its facilities but has been unable to locate the backup tapes.

The backup tapes contained ultrasound studies dating from 1993 to 1997 in Providence and from 2002 to 2007 in New Bedford and included patient names, dates of birth, dates of exam, physicians’ names, patient ultrasound images, and, in some instances, Social Security numbers.  

 

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