Recently a neighbor forwarded a November 2023 New York Times article on some recent experiences in Arizona with the expansion of State funds driving treatment center expansions, without appropriate oversight. Please read the article, then come back to read the rest of this blog post.
As you read this article, consider the parallels to what is happening with the proposed facilities here in Rescue. While I believe Native Directions has the best intentions, it is a fact that their planned facilities in El Dorado County will more than 4X their current patient and land size. The Three Rivers Lodge, which is run by Native Directions (link), provides adult substance abuse treatment on a 3 acre parcel in Manteca they have owned for many years. It is NOT a perinatal facility, nor is it a Bridge Housing facility, like they plan in Rescue. Add on top of their workload the Wellness Center and 250 patient/yr adult SUD they are planning Shingle Springs, and that is a HUGE expansion for their team. Given what our community has seen in their ability to work with the community, and El Dorado County, it is easy to be pessimistic about their ability to take on these new facilities and the significant increase in patients they will be treating (400/yr in Rescue and 250/yr in Shingle Springs per their Grant applications).
While this community has many reasons to stop this development in Rescue, consider the patient experience if these facilities are built.
We list out our reasons why we believe this will be a poor patient experience (Patients – Why is this bad for proposed patients? – Rescue Deer Valley!) but this give the benefit of the doubt that the care will be delivered appropriately. The Arizona experience chronicled in that article show what might happen if the care isn’t delivered appropriately.
We forwarded this article to appropriate El Dorado County contacts, along with an email reiterating some of the questions we posed to the Board of Supervisors on January 30th. We will continue to press EDC leaders to do the right thing and stop these developments. Please feel free to add your voice as well by writing to them directly. We provide the contact information here: https://rescuedeervalley.com/how-you-can-help/
Pertinent questions to EDC/State leaders (Dept Health Care Services/Dept of Social Services) pertaining to these proposed developments in Rescue – from the Rescue Deer Valley community:
El Dorado County Residents are asking the BOS/DHCS:
- How can a State-funded project, with very questionable developer execution, really run roughshod over county regulations? (DHCS)
- What is the State oversight that ensures rogue developers don’t overreach and obtain approval for projects that clearly don’t fit the “community” and actually bring significant dangers to the existing residents? (DHCS)
- Why wasn’t EDC involved in the planning of the multi-billion dollar state investment? (DHCS)
- Why wasn’t a suitable location in San Joaquin county found for these three facilities? (DHCS)
- Why wasn’t this program working with EDC organizations to appropriately plan and prepare for these developments? (DHCS)
- Do EDC agencies have appropriate resources to add these facilities to their support burden?
- Where do these 200+/year San Joaquin patients go when they are released from their 90-120 day program?
- Will the children being housed in the perinatal facility have access to EDC schools?
- How does EDC (or DHCS) ensure that the managing care provider has the experience and expertise to develop and manage these three new facilities for the next 30 years?
Patients (future-proposed) are Asking DHCS/EDC BOS:
- Why would these patients want to be shipped over 100 miles away? (DHCS)
- Why would these patients want to be placed into an area where they can’t work with medical providers they know and/or trust? (DHCS)
- Why would the State want to place patients into facilities that have delayed emergency services, putting those patients at higher risk, when every moment matters? (DHCS)
- How could anyone accept that two large medical facilities can be effectively served in this remote location? (DHCS/BOS)
- How is the Department of Health Care Services going to ensure the patients of these proposed facilities get the care and services they need? (DHCS)
- What requirements does the State have for granting $11+ million to a non-proven, new startup, to build 4 new facilities in a new discipline for the leadership team? (DHCS/BOS)
- How does the State (DHCS) ensure their providers have the experience to build and maintain great patient care for the 30 year commitment required to receive these grants? (DHCS)
- Why wouldn’t NDI choose locations in San Joaquin County where they have years of experience, and expand slowly, one facility at a time, to ensure they can provide great care for their patients? (DHCS/BOS)
- Why would HomeCA choose such a poor location for their facilities in Rescue?
Rescue Deer Valley! 