Mental Health Provider Trying To Stay Open

This morning, a range of state-funded organizations lined up to petition Kathleen Blatz, the court-appointed shutdown Special Master, to declare their organizations essential enough to fund during the government shutdown.

While many health services were ordered funded by Ramsey County Judge Kathleen Gearin, one Hopkins-based mental health provider, Vail Place, wasn't among them. Vail Place provides services to more than 1,700 disabled Minnesotans. 

"Without Vail Place, quite honestly, I would not be alive today," said Theresa Dolata, a Vail Place client.

Dolata and another client gave Blatz heart-wrenching testimony Thursday morning about how the organization helps them treat their mental health issues, enabling them to live dignified lives. Vail Place's Co-Executive Director Kathy Prieve said that stakes were high.

"Without our services, many individuals would lose the ability to access their most basic needs—medications, food, housing," she said. "(This puts) them at serious personal risk and imposing huge costs in resources and money, to the community."

Much of Vail Place's funding, said Prieve, comes from a large mental health grant that Judge Gearin didn't include on her list of essential state spending. 

"Vail Place helped me find housing when I was homeless," Dolata told the court. "They also provided ongoing support so I could stay in that housing."

A mental health practitioner helps Dolata manage her symptoms, she said. In addition to working with her doctors, the assistant helps Dolata secure jobs that have built-in supports that accomodate and help her manage her illness, allowing her to stay in those jobs.

Julie Tate, another Vail Place client, said that support has made a remarkable difference in helping her avoid psychiatric crises. 

"Before I started at Vail Place, I was hospitalized five to six times a year for weeks at a time," Tate told the court. "Since starting at Vail eight years ago, I have only been in the hospital three short times. It has been four years since my last visit to an inpatient hospital unit."

Vail Place's Prieve said she felt her, Tate's, and Dolata's testimony was well-recieved by Blatz. Still, she said, nobody could be sure when a decision would be made about funding. Court spokesperson Kyle Christopherson confirmed that no schedule had been set for Special Master Blatz's decisions.

"We will be keeping our doors open using our reserves," Prieve said. "(We're) hoping that the ruling comes through and the shutdown ends soon."