This article draws from two previous postings to this blog, one being published on September 09, 2012, and titled as follows:
Corrupt Social Worker Staff At The Arizona State Hospital: Wherein I Again Initiate Contact With The The AZ Board Of Behavioral Health Examiner
The other being one that I have reposted the underlying issues of as recently as last week, entitled:
OF PHOENIX POLICE (second rerun, amended) RE: Case #2012-BHS-0263-DHS. Wherein the possibility of police discrimination against patents arises. (originally published in full form May 08, 2012)
Sadly (2014), I am increasingly finding features to my home state of New Mexico's public behavioral health care system that are every bit as disturbing as my recent experiences in Arizona's public BHS network, and as the data included below illustrates, does extend to the role of social worker staff in New Mexico's sole long term public mental health facility, The New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute. NMBHI, as such, is New Mexico's version of the Arizona State Hospital, where I did as a matter of fact outright moral ineptitude exhibited by a number of ASH social workers. Also, it is critical to remember that the current CEO at ASH, Donna Noriega, who is a state licensed behavioral health professional, was directly censured by Arizona' credentialing agency when it was established by that particular body that Noriega had willfully lied about the lack of required qualifications of her staff when she was ASH's chief operating officer (a role that specifically plays into the hiring practices at ASH). And as I have said more than once, for this, Donna "You are soooo busted!" Noriega was literally promoted from that position to that of ASH's CEO. Business as per the usual in ADHS/BHS, as it arises on a daily basis at ASH. And NM, too? Time will tell, as I take a closer look at the escalating issues emerge in the local media, and my own writing project evolves. At some point, I may have to thank persons such as Dr. Pervaiz Akhter, Cory Nelson, Donna Noriega, and yes, ADHS director Will Humble for making my contentions that much more accurate, with all aspects of my work as it had advanced over the last 24-36 months. Ironic, at best, but I will take whatever I can learn in the context of seeing that my concerns are granted oversight and direct accountability. Rat bastards beware.
No place to go: Deaths of 2 mentally disabled men reveal cracks in the system
Copyright © 2014 Albuquerque Journal
LAS VEGAS, N.M. – In drawing national attention, the killing of James Boyd by Albuquerque police brought focus to how law enforcement addresses people with mental health issues.
The deaths of two mentally disabled men in Las Vegas last October – also tragic but garnering much less publicity – further expose cracks in the structure to place mentally disabled people back into society.
Cochise Bayhan, 56, and Alex Montoya, 61, died of carbon monoxide poisoning while living in a backyard shed. They had just been released from the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas, where both had been admitted many times.
LAS VEGAS, N.M. – In drawing national attention, the killing of James Boyd by Albuquerque police brought focus to how law enforcement addresses people with mental health issues.
The deaths of two mentally disabled men in Las Vegas last October – also tragic but garnering much less publicity – further expose cracks in the structure to place mentally disabled people back into society.
Cochise Bayhan, 56, and Alex Montoya, 61, died of carbon monoxide poisoning while living in a backyard shed. They had just been released from the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas, where both had been admitted many times.
The state Department of Health says that when a patient has no family member or other representative to help out, “the patient is the decision maker" when it comes to deciding on where to live or get care after leaving the hospital.
That’s a policy the head of a local mental health nonprofit called crazy. And, with NMBHI being the state’s only hospital for the mentally disabled, Shela Silverman said a cottage industry of boarding homes has grown in Las Vegas that is left unregulated.
'We do need homes. They (NMBHI) don't have any place to put these people," said Silverman, director of the nonprof it Mental Health Association of New Mexico, located in Las Vegas."But you see some of these buildings and they're in terrible condition."
Not suitable for human occupancy
The same day Bayhan and Montoya were released from NMBHI, they took up board in a shed behind the home of Denise and Jose Encinias on Ning Road in a rural neighborhood north of Las Vegas.
Montoya had lived on the property before, but this time the Enciniases were of f ering new digs – a brand new Weather King shed purchased less than three weeks earlier f rom Floyd’s Rental Center, according to a State Police report.
The rent-to-own agreement Denise Encinias signed for the shed on Sept. 20 included a disclaimer written in bold, uppercase letters that turned out to be prophetic. It read: NOT DESIGNED OR SUITABLE FOR HUMAN OCCUPANCY OR OCCUPATION.
The Enciniases furnished the 12 feet by 32 feet shed with two small beds separated by a tiny dresser and a couch, and called it a boarding home or, as Denise referred to it when she spoke to police, an "apartment" . They ran extension cords from their mobile home to the shed to provide power for a television and electric heater.
The shed had no plumbing. A friend of Bayhan’s family said the boarders would have to walk across the backyard and use the facilities inside the Enciniases’ home if they needed to go to the bathroom or wash up.
For these accommodations and the caretaker services they provided, the Encinias couple charged Montoya $500 a month and Bayhan $600 a month.
Two weeks after the men moved in, Jose Encinias made more modifications to the shed, according to the police report. The electric heater wasn't providing sufficient warmth as late October nights grew colder. So Jose installed an additional propane-fed heater he got from a friend and hung sheets of plastic over the windows and ceiling to provide insulation.
Three days later, Bayhan and Montoya were dead.
The autopsy reports deemed both deaths were caused by “the toxic effects of carbon monoxide,” with concentrations in both men well above generally accepted fatal amounts. Inspectors subsequently found 27 construction code violations with the shed, 11 of them gas code violations.
As of last month, the Enciniases are facing two charges each of neglect resulting in death, second- degree felonies. Jose was also charged with installing an LP gas appliance without a license and failure to have his work inspected, a misdemeanor.
Denise got out of jail on an unsecured appearance bond on March 31, the day she was booked, according to her attorney, Anna Aragon. Jose was released last Friday on a $40,000 property bond.
Family history
Records obtained by State Police through a subpoena show that Montoya suffered from schizophrenic disorder “with bipolar type” and had been admitted to the state’s only mental hospital six times.
Family members and hospital administrators agreed that the men were incapable of taking care of themselves.
While Boyd, the man fatally shot byAlbuquerque police, had numerous run-ins with the law, available state court records show no criminal record for Bayhan and a short list of arrests for Montoya – a couple of DWIs and an arson charge that was dismissed.
Like countless people suf f ering f rom mental illness, the men had loose ties with their families. "it's not like we were close," said Daniel Bayhan, brother of Cochise, who they called "Coe", or by his nickname "Maaman:".
Their parents’ divorce fractured the family of eight children, half of them going with their mother to Ohio and the rest remaining in Mesilla, near Las Cruces.
According to his obituary, Coe Bayhan was involved in tae kwon do in junior high and worked as a chef at the Double Eagle restaurant in the mid-1970s.
Family members believe he also spent a short stint in the Marines. "I think that's when his illness started showing up, because he was discharged," Martha Mack, who lives in Wapakoneta, Ohio.
Mack said she didn’t know her brother well, since the family split when they were both young.
She hadn’t seen him in years, the last time on a visit to New Mexico decades ago when Coe was living with his father but was on medication. She said her interaction with him during that visit was "not productive."
But despite his condition she sensed something about him that touched her spirit. “Even though he
was that way, you could still tell he had a moral core to his being. He still had a moral core that he
abided by,” she said.
Christine Steiger, a friend of Daniel Bayhan, said Coe was a kind person. "Everyone says the same thing: he was really nice guy. He just struggled with his illness," she said. "It was very hard for him to do anything when it manifested itself. It interrupted his work and social life."
Daniel said that, af ter his f ather died, Coe had no place to go and drifted away. How he ended up in Las Vegas is unclear.
In and out of the Behavioral Health Institute, Alex Montoya made Las Vegas home the last years of his life.
At his funeral in Belen, where he grew up, he was described in the sermon as a "kind and loving son and brother “ who was cared for by his elderly mother until about four years ago, when caring for him became too much for her. His mother told church officials that Alex had a big heart and that he “wanted to be loved.” She said he had a difficult life, but now he was no longer suffering.
State PoliceAgent Mark Alsfeld wrote in his report on the deaths in Las Vegas that the NMBHIsocial worker who knew Montoya well and who discharged both men on Oct. 9 said that Montoya was 'likeable but incapable of caring for himself."
Patient is “decision maker”
In a response to emailed questions from the Journal, the Department of Health didn’t comment directly about NMBHI’s discharge of Alex Montoya and Coe Bayhan or how the men may have ended up in the Encinias couple’s shed.
DOH said every patient of the Adult Psychiatric Division at NMBHI is assigned a social
worker and discharge planning begins soon af ter patients are admitted. The patients are routinely assessed to determine their capacity to reintegrate into the community. Every discharge plan is unique and, before discharge, every patient must have responded to treatment to the extent they no longer require the inpatient care, the department said. The level of care and support a patient will require is considered when placing them in an outpatient setting, be it a nursing home, assisted living or independent living situation with outpatient services, DOH said. If the patient has a family member or representative involved in the patient’s treatment they maybe involved in discharge related decisions.
Christine Steiger, a friend of Daniel Bayhan, said Coe was a kind person. "Everyone says the same thing: he was really nice guy. He just struggled with his illness," she said. "It was very hard for him to do anything when it manifested itself. It interrupted his work and social life."
Daniel said that, af ter his f ather died, Coe had no place to go and drifted away. How he ended up in Las Vegas is unclear.
In and out of the Behavioral Health Institute, Alex Montoya made Las Vegas home the last years of his life.
At his funeral in Belen, where he grew up, he was described in the sermon as a "kind and loving son and brother “ who was cared for by his elderly mother until about four years ago, when caring for him became too much for her. His mother told church officials that Alex had a big heart and that he “wanted to be loved.” She said he had a difficult life, but now he was no longer suffering.
State PoliceAgent Mark Alsfeld wrote in his report on the deaths in Las Vegas that the NMBHIsocial worker who knew Montoya well and who discharged both men on Oct. 9 said that Montoya was 'likeable but incapable of caring for himself."
Patient is “decision maker”
In a response to emailed questions from the Journal, the Department of Health didn’t comment directly about NMBHI’s discharge of Alex Montoya and Coe Bayhan or how the men may have ended up in the Encinias couple’s shed.
DOH said every patient of the Adult Psychiatric Division at NMBHI is assigned a social
worker and discharge planning begins soon af ter patients are admitted. The patients are routinely assessed to determine their capacity to reintegrate into the community. Every discharge plan is unique and, before discharge, every patient must have responded to treatment to the extent they no longer require the inpatient care, the department said. The level of care and support a patient will require is considered when placing them in an outpatient setting, be it a nursing home, assisted living or independent living situation with outpatient services, DOH said. If the patient has a family member or representative involved in the patient’s treatment they maybe involved in discharge related decisions.
“If a patient has no alternative decision maker, the patient is the decision maker,” "If a patient has no alternative the patient is decision maker, " DOH says, citing a
provision in state law. "Not unlike when a person is discharged from an acute general care hospital, when an individual is discharged from (MNMBHI's psychiatric division“) they seek any necessary after and continuing care from a community provider."
It’s not clear how Montoya and Bayhan ended up in the Enciniases’ shed, but apparently it was their decision to make.
Silverman, of the Mental Health Association, said she knew Montoya well though her work. He was among the many mentally disabled people who would stop by, looking for a meal, cigarettes, or just somebody to talk to.
”Alex, what sweet man," she said. "He was in his 60s, and had worked and had been successful for awhile. I thing he had late onset of schizophrenia in his 30s, and he had some issues with alcohol. “
According to a 2010 report, NMBHI discharged more than 80 people into homes each of the previous two fiscal years.At that time, NMBHI maintained a list of 31 homes that accepted discharged patients.
"And all these people that come out (are) on medication, some very serious medication," said Silverman, "But some of these people at these boarding homes don't know anything about administering meds." She said some unscrupulous proprietors open boarding homes because it seems like easy money. She’s heard about a few who use it to support gambling habits.
Discharged patients usually get monthly Supplemental Security Income checks and have few expenses, so much of that money frequently goes to the proprietor for rent and providing care.
Silverman says the biggest problem is there’s no oversight. No one is checking on the suitability of these boarding homes and no one is checking up on the proprietors. She said it’s a problem government of f icials have known about f or years, but nothing has been done.
“Nothing,” she said. “The state has done nothing. There is no licensing for boarding homes and that’s what we’re trying to get them to do.”
Caring is a big job. Study recommends no new rules.
A report on homes for mentally ill people who have been discharged came to no conclusions, other than recommending oversight. Denise Encinias told State Police Agent Alsfield last October she began boarding released patients from NMBHI “to get ahead in my life.”
She and her husband, who worked construction, have a handicapped daughter, so Denise spent a lot of time at home, a single-wide trailer in a rural subdivision.
Court records show that Denise, now 41, had a history of falling behind.In 2002 and again in 2005, the mobile home park where she was living filed claims against her in magistrate court for nonpayment of rent.
In 2009, a collection agency took her to court for breach of contract and the Fastbucks store in town won a $1,266 judgment against her.
It’s not clear how Montoya and Bayhan ended up in the Enciniases’ shed, but apparently it was their decision to make.
Silverman, of the Mental Health Association, said she knew Montoya well though her work. He was among the many mentally disabled people who would stop by, looking for a meal, cigarettes, or just somebody to talk to.
”Alex, what sweet man," she said. "He was in his 60s, and had worked and had been successful for awhile. I thing he had late onset of schizophrenia in his 30s, and he had some issues with alcohol. “
According to a 2010 report, NMBHI discharged more than 80 people into homes each of the previous two fiscal years.At that time, NMBHI maintained a list of 31 homes that accepted discharged patients.
"And all these people that come out (are) on medication, some very serious medication," said Silverman, "But some of these people at these boarding homes don't know anything about administering meds." She said some unscrupulous proprietors open boarding homes because it seems like easy money. She’s heard about a few who use it to support gambling habits.
Discharged patients usually get monthly Supplemental Security Income checks and have few expenses, so much of that money frequently goes to the proprietor for rent and providing care.
Silverman says the biggest problem is there’s no oversight. No one is checking on the suitability of these boarding homes and no one is checking up on the proprietors. She said it’s a problem government of f icials have known about f or years, but nothing has been done.
“Nothing,” she said. “The state has done nothing. There is no licensing for boarding homes and that’s what we’re trying to get them to do.”
Caring is a big job. Study recommends no new rules.
A report on homes for mentally ill people who have been discharged came to no conclusions, other than recommending oversight. Denise Encinias told State Police Agent Alsfield last October she began boarding released patients from NMBHI “to get ahead in my life.”
She and her husband, who worked construction, have a handicapped daughter, so Denise spent a lot of time at home, a single-wide trailer in a rural subdivision.
Court records show that Denise, now 41, had a history of falling behind.In 2002 and again in 2005, the mobile home park where she was living filed claims against her in magistrate court for nonpayment of rent.
In 2009, a collection agency took her to court for breach of contract and the Fastbucks store in town won a $1,266 judgment against her.
Last August, two months before the deaths of her tenants, Denise and Jose Encinias lost a default judgment to New Mexico Auto Wholesale for debt and money due.
The next month, the couple bought the shed, purportedly to bring in more money from boarders released from NMBHI.
Denise’s attorney confirmed that the Enciniases were already boarding at least one other individual, who lef t af ter the deaths, on their property in a separate building. But she declined to discuss the case because charges have now been filed and she instructed her client to do the same.
In the days following the deaths, Denise spoke to the local newspaper.
“I didn’t bring them to hurt them; I brought them to take care of them,” she told the Las Vegas Optic. “I’m a good person. The people that know me know who we are. Get to know us before you judge us.”
Denise told State Police it was a big job to take care of the men: “You have to do everything for them,” she said. “It’s not landlord/tenant. You have to feed them, give them their meds, make sure they shower, clean their house. I do everything.”
Denise said she last saw the men alive about 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 23 when she gave them their medication, made up their beds and put on their pajamas. Jose last saw them about 10 p.m. They were sitting on the couch in the shed watching television.
About four hours later, Jose got up to use the bathroom and noticed a light was still on in the shed. He went to check on them and found the men in the same place on the couch, dead.
Silverman said she was contacted earlier this week by the Governor’s Commission on Disability, saying the interim Legislative Health and Human Services Committee wanted to schedule a meeting on the boarding home situation in Las Vegas and asking if she would like to provide testimony.
She’s hoping that, as tragic as the deaths of Bayhan and Montoya were, maybe some good will come out of it.
“Sometimes it takes people dying for something to happen,” she said.
Copyright © 2014 Albuquerque Journal
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With the above Albuquerque Journal article in mind, I will attest yet again to the fact while hospitalized in The Arizona State Hospital, I most definitely witnessed and experienced grossly inept actions in the context of the role that my then assigned social worker(s) played in the in the live's of ASH's patient community, which as a matter of documented fact includes the willingness of a former ASH social worker, named Megan Mischner, to patently lie about the full range of available options in terms of my immediate after care, as my discharge date from ASH approached in late 2011. Likewise, I have clarified in several previous articles that in direct complicity with ASH staff, representatives of the Phoenix Police Department exhibited clear bias/discrimination against me on the basis of my status as a seriously mentally ill client of ASH, this when- in good faith- I requested their assistance specific to my being assaulted by an ASH staff member named Elaine Traylor; just one more pattern of graphically unlawful misconduct that I also able to document as the process of being continually denied my right(s) to due process and equal protection played out following the specific incident. Indeed, the patterns of abject discrimination and associated state agency moral ineptitude in Arizona are pretty well on point with New Mexico (as illustrated in the Albuquerque Journal), which further bolsters by contention that these such agencies are willing and able to get away with grossly breaching the public trust on the basis of their specific client base's status as persons affected by serious mental illness and disability. These issues occur as a matter of standard practice, in blatant defiance of state and federal law, underlying what I believe to be an undeniable culture of corruption which continually plays out to the direct detriment of anybody deserving the services that these agencies are required to provide.
Corrupt Social Worker Staff At The Arizona State Hospital: Wherein I Again Initiate Contact With The The AZ Board Of Behavioral Health Examiners (Sept. 09, 2012)
Auditors find fault in behavioral health board.
paoloreed@gmail.com
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I would really love input of any kind from anybody with any interest whatsoever in the issues that I am sharing in this blog. I mean it, anybody, for I will be the first one to admit that I may be inaccurately depicting certain aspects of the conditions
at ASH, and anonymous comments are fine. In any case, I am more than willing to value anybody's feelings about my writing, and I assure you that I will not intentionally exploit or otherwise abuse your right to express yourself as you deem fit. This topic is far, far too important for anything less. Thank you, whoever you are. Peace and Frogs.