Saturday Election 2021 April 24, 2021 T: 582-7800 www.arubatoday.com facebook.com/arubatoday instagram.com/arubatoday Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper Page 9 Feds fund mental health crisis teams to stand in for police WASHINGTON (AP) — 10 years for states that set When police respond to a up mobile crisis teams, cur- person gripped by a men- rently locally operated in a tal health or drug crisis, the handful of places. encounter can have trag- Many 911 calls are due to ic results. Now a govern- a person experiencing a ment insurance program mental health or substance will help communities set abuse crisis. Sometimes, up an alternative: mobile like with Daniel Prude in Ro- teams with mental health chester, New York, the con- practitioners trained in de- sequences are shocking. escalating such potentially The 41-year-old Black man volatile situations. died after police placed The effort to reinvent po- a spit hood over his head licing after the death of and held him to the pave- George Floyd in police ment for about two min- custody is getting an as- utes on a cold night in 2020 sist through Medicaid, the until he stopped breathing. federal-state health insur- He had run naked from his ance program for low- brother's house after being income people and the released from a hospital largest payer for mental following a mental health health treatment. President arrest. A grand jury voted Joe Biden's recent corona- down charges against the In this Sept. 2020 photo, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Christian Hawks with CAHOOTS, a virus relief bill calls for an officers. mental health crisis intervention program, prepares for an afternoon shift in Eugene, Oregon. estimated $1 billion over Continued on next page Associated Press A2 SATURDAY 24 APRIL 2021 UP FRONT illness is a factor in at least 25% of such shootings, it es- timated. The center advo- cates for improved mental health care. Mobile crisis teams found their way into the COVID-19 relief bill through the efforts of Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, who chairs the Finance Committee, which oversees Medicaid. "Too often law enforce- ment is asked to respond to situations that they are not trained to handle," Wyden said. "On the streets in chal- lenging times, too often the result is violence, even fatal violence, particularly for Black Americans." Wyden's legislation in- cludes $15 million in plan- ning grants to help states get going. The Congres- sional Budget Office esti- mates the program could take a couple of years to fully implement. The $1 bil- lion will be available to states for five years, be- ginning next April. Wyden said it's a "down payment" on what he hopes will be- come a permanent part of Medicaid. The idea may be well- timed, said Medicaid ex- In this Sept. 2020 photo, Crisis Worker Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Sara Stroo, left, and Crisis Worker Laurel Lisovskis with CAHOOTS, a mental health crisis intervention program, take a moment before heading out on an evening shift in Eugene, Ore. pert MaryBeth Musumeci, Associated Press of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. The Continued from Front my officers in these circum- ordination. Crisis teams are prompted the call and coronavirus pandemic has Dispatching teams of para- stances," Skinner explained. not sent on calls involving to connect the person in- worsened society's perva- medics and behavioral "By sending the right re- violent situations. volved to ongoing help sive mental health and sub- health practitioners would sources I can make the as- "We don't look like law en- and support. stance abuse problems. take mental health crisis sumption that there are go- forcement," White Bird vet- At least 14 cities around the At the same time, protests calls out of the hands of ing to be fewer times when eran Tim Black said. "We country are interested in over police shootings of uniformed and armed of- officers are in situations that drive a big white cargo versions of that model, said Black people have cre- ficers, whose mere arrival can turn violent. It actually van. Our responders wear Simone Brody, executive ated an appetite for any- may ratchet up tensions. de-conflicts, reducing the a T-shirt or a hoodie with a director of What Works Cit- thing that could break the In Eugene, Oregon, such a need for use of force." logo. We don't have hand- ies, a New York-based non- cycle. "All of those things strategy has been in place Eugene is a medium-size cuffs or pepper spray, and profit that tries to promote coming together are put- more than 30 years, with city about 100 miles (160 the way we start to interact change through effective ting increased focus on the solid backing from police. kilometers) south of Port- sends a message that we use of data. "It's really excit- need for further developing The concept "fits nicely land, known for its educa- are not the police and this ing to see the federal gov- effective behavioral health with what we are trying tional institutions. The pro- is going to be a far safer ernment support this mod- treatment models," Musu- to do around police re- gram there is called Crisis and voluntary interaction." el," Brody said. "I am hopeful meci said. form," Eugene Police Chief Assistance Helping Out On CAHOOTS teams handled that three years from now In Rhode Island, nurse Chris Skinner said. The logic The Streets, or CAHOOTS, 24,000 calls in the local area we will have multiple mod- turned malpractice lawyer works "like a simple math and is run by the White Bird in 2019, and Black said the els and ideally some data Laura Harrington is helping problem," he adds. Clinic. CAHOOTS is part of vast majority would have that shows this has actually coordinate a grassroots "If I can rely on a mecha- the local 911 emergency otherwise fallen to police. saved people's lives." Port- campaign to incorporate nism that matches the right response system but oper- Many involve homeless land, Oregon, launched its crisis teams into the state's response to the need, it ates independently of the people. The teams work to own crisis teams in Febru- 911 system. She said she's means I don't have to put police, although there's co- resolve the situation that ary and the program has been surprised at the level already expanded to serve of interest. "I don't want more areas of the commu- to get into blaming," Har- LIKE US ON nity. rington said. "We could About 1,000 people a year blame social services. We are shot dead by police, could blame people who according to an analysis by don't take their medica- the Treatment Advocacy tions. We could blame Center, which examined the police. I want to several publicly available move forward and solve Facebook.com/arubatoday/ estimates. Severe mental problems."q A3 U.S. NEWS SATURDAY 24 APRIL 2021 Jenner adds celebrity, questions to California governor race By MICHAEL R. BLOOD need as little as 20% of the LOS ANGELES (AP) — Re- vote to top a large field. publican Caitlyn Jenner Anne Dunsmore, a consul- said Friday she will run for tant for Rescue California, governor of California, one of the political com- injecting a jolt of celeb- mittees backing the recall, rity into an emerging cam- said she recently spoke to paign that threatens to oust Jenner and views her as a Democratic Gov. Gavin serious candidate. Newsom from office. "I don't think she's going Jenner — an Olympic hero, to use it to further her own reality TV personality and purpose, but rather bring transgender rights activist awareness to what's hap- — said in statement posted pening here," Dunsmore on Twitter and on an ac- said. companying website that Jenner made headlines in she has filed initial paper- recent years with her ties work to run for the post. to Trump, who lost to Joe Newsom, a first-term Demo- Biden in the state in No- crat, is facing a likely recall vember by over 5 million election this year, though votes. officials are still reviewing Jenner supported Trump in petition signatures required 2016 but later criticized his to qualify the proposal for administration's reversal of the ballot. Several other a directive on transgender Republicans also have an- Caitlyn Jenner attends the Comedy Central Roast of Alec Baldwin in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Sept. access to public school nounced plans to run. 7, 2019. bathrooms. She also criti- The race had failed to at- Associated Press cized Trump after he said tract a nationally recog- transgender people would nized contender before tenders, including former ity" and taking on special fend off rivals in the midst of not be allowed to serve in the entrance of 71-year- San Diego Mayor Kevin interests. a pandemic that has cost the U.S. military. old Jenner, who is widely Faulconer, former U.S. Rep. Her campaign did not re- the state millions of jobs, In a statement, Newsom known from shows "Keep- Doug Ose and business- spond to a request for an cored government bud- campaign spokesman Dan ing Up with the Kardashi- man John Cox, who lost to on-camera interview. gets and upended life for Newman said, "We always ans" and the spin-off "I Am Newsom in the 2018 gover- She described herself as nearly 40 million residents. knew the ... recall would Cait." nor's race. "economically conserva- He's also been hit by the be a ludicrous circus full of However, she brings an Hours after Jenner an- tive, socially progressive" in fallout from a multibillion- Trump supporters." abundance of questions nounced she would run, a People magazine inter- dollar fraud scandal at the The team advising Jenner about her ability to poten- Faulconer took a lightly view last year.