Link to Anderson Valley Advertiser:  www.theava.com

Walking upriver a piece, beyond the forks where the sun bakes the gravel bar and pepperwoods shadow the Indian trail, eventually Ed Sniece's place comes into view. If the valley fog has lifted its cloak.

The casual observer might spot Ed on his redwood roofed porch and think he was whittling. But he's not whittling, he's splitting kindling so fine it resembles foot long toothpicks. Ed speaks without glancing up from his short hatchet chops. “The woman's 'round back planting garden.”
The front yard blooms daffodil yellow and higher up, plum pink and white. Something akin to a grunt emanates from the apple orchard to the west.
Hatchet still, Ed looks up, twists on his three-legged stool, seemingly examining the wire fence that separates the Sniece yard from the orchard that runs eight Gravensteins and Rhode Island Greenings deep by four rows wide to a point where the ground rises steeply into the wooded hillside.
“Damn pigs rooting 'round. Haven't seen 'em in these parts in a coons age. I'll be damned if...”
Ed rises, strides to the front door, and on inside. A matter of seconds short of a minute he's outside again, Winchester cradled on one arm while he slides a couple of rounds from a box into the rifle.
Jamming the box of shells in a back pocket of his jeans, Ed's already at the deer fence, sidestepping for a line of sight. It's not deer season and it's not venison he's after.
A wild hog snorts into view, snuffing at the trunk of a Greening. The report of a shot and the feint hint of gun smoke precedes the squeals echoing downriver. However, the hog Ed aimed at lies dead in the orchard, without even a twitch of last life.
“You can't hit me from there,” a woman's voice calls from behind the house.
“Wild pigs,” Ed responds.
The distant squealing turns southward. “Reckon you broke the other one's heart,” the woman says.
“Ah, she's just outta breath, running uphill.”
Ed empties the bullets from the .30-.30 while he walks to the porch, where he rests the weapon against a side of the wood box. Back at the stool he picks up a chunk of redwood in his left hand and the hatchet with his right. “Anyone who thinks animals don't have emotions... ain't noticed much.”
He nods toward the border collie curled in next to the east end of the wood box. The gray muzzled dog had barely cocked an eye, let alone raised his head at the sound of the gun shot.
“Old Butch's mother had a litter of pups – might have been his time 'cause she only had two litters. Well, she had so many she didn't take note she'd sat on one while the others were suckling. When she finally got up that one pup was suffocated... That's about when I come along. She snuffed at it awhile then the woman and I wrapped it in an old newspaper and buried it.
“That bitch followed us out to the little grave and, you know, it must have been an hour later, but I was down on one knee tamping the dirt and rocking the place down to keep it from varmints. I glanced over and that dog...”
Ed nearly lifted off his stool to holler, “What was the name of Butch's mother?”
“For crying out loud,” the woman replied, “you know, well as I, Bee. Called her Aunt Bee...”
Ed finished the thought, “Cause a bee stung her when she was a pup.”
The voice from the back dropped silent. Ed went on, “Well, like I said, I was down on my knees placing rocks when I looked over and saw Bee with tears rolling out the corners of both her eyes.”
Ed brought the hatchet down, a 3 x 2 inch slab of redwood split clean away. In another few seconds he cleaved that into several kindling sticks then gazed out to the orchard once more. “Damn wild hog, usually tough as bark. Probably won't even smoke up to nothing more than tolerably edible.”
He tossed the kindling into an apple crate, then bent to stroke the old border collie, from the back of his head down to his back. “Hey, Butch, wanna see a dead hog?”
Butch lifted his head, rheumy eyes opening, but he didn't stand.

                                                                            Link to Anderson Valley Advertiser:  www.theava.com

By now it is no secret that Mendocino Coast District Hospital (MCDH) has put its toes in the water to test the public's temperature about a parcel tax that might raise between $1.5 and $3 million in additional annual funds for the hospital that is little over a year removed from bankruptcy. Folks like MCDH Chief Executive Officer Bob Edwards and Hospital Foundation President Steve Lund are putting a positive spin on things for the general public. However, MCDH's own surveys and studies, some of which the hospital paid tens of thousands of dollars for, paint a different picture.

In a survey of patients comparing Mendocino Coast District Hospital to other area hospitals, as well as state and nationwide, the ability of MCDH doctors and nurses to communicate well was given only two stars on a one to five star basis, placing MCDH's professionals in the bottom 15%. In answer to the question, “Would you recommend MCDH to others,” patients gave the Mendocino Coast hospital the lowest rating in the area, 3% lower than Ukiah Valley Medical Center, 6% less than Sutter Medical Center in Santa Rosa, 8% lower than Santa Rosa Memorial, 18% less than UCSF Medical Center, and 21% lower than Frank R. Howard Memorial Hospital in Willits. In a generalized approval rating, from 0 to 100%, MCDH garnered only a 58% score, lagging 23% behind Howard Memorial. The statewide and national scores were 15-16% higher than MCDH.
According to a Press Ganey study of more than 3,000 acute care hospitals in the United States the greatest factor driving profitability resides in the culture of engagement within the workforce at a given hospital. The most recent study on that matter, performed by the Gallup Organization in 2013, showed that 2/3 (66-67%) of nurses and physicians employed at MCDH fell into the categories of “Disengaged” or “Not Engaged” workers, meaning that, at best, only one third of MCDH's professionals were/are engaged in what they are doing while at the facility.
Any reader might ask, where did I find this information? Answer: Simply by attending the Hospital Foundation's January Board meeting, where MCDH Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Wade Sturgeon voiced the words to CEO Edwards' power point presentation (a recent operation has limited Edwards' ability to speak). There were no other members of the press present and darn few, if any, members of the public present outside the Foundation's own Board members and staff. A similar presentation has also been made before the MCDH Board and at least one of its committees, but without the attention to detail it received at the Hospital Foundation gathering.
Back to the studies, one of which concerns cutting expenses. Citing the language of Quorum Health Resources (an outfit that provides consulting, training, and implementation support to hospitals), CEO Edwards' presentation states (and hospital employees may want to perk up their ears here), “Through 2014, MCDH achieved Personnel Expense reduction; however, the best performing Quorum CAH [Critical Access Hospital] facilities indicate further reduction is possible.”
Currently, the prime reason for the need to pass a parcel tax, which requires a 2/3 voter approval for passage, is the $1.7 million loss in the hospital's Emergency Room last year. That loss is attributable to one thing, ER patients are not becoming admissions to the hospital at the rate they were just five years ago. Using the numbers provided in Edwards' presentation, a return to the number of ER patients who followed up as an admission (about 230 more out of 9,000 or so patient visits to the ER annually) to the hospital would raise approximately $ 2.75 million in revenues by itself, without a parcel tax.
Readers may want to know that the average wait time at the Mendocino Coast District Hospital ER is reported as thirty-five minutes, less than the 40-47 minutes at the two Santa Rosa hospitals, but fifteen minutes longer than at Ukiah Valley Medical Center and seven to eleven minutes longer than the state and national averages. You may have noted the word “reported” before the MCDH Emergency Room wait time. That is because the MCDH numbers are based on internal rather than the public records regarding all the other facilities mentioned.
Using the recommendations of Quorum, CEO Edwards presented the following power point statement concerning the hospital's engagement of the local community, “MCDH is to develop a comprehensive marketing plan designed to gain enhanced understanding of district resident awareness of MCDH and their preferences for service delivery to increase use.
“Components of the marketing plan will focus on establishing listening forums (i.e., ministerial alliance; residents external to Fort Bragg; recent patients); provision of positive “talking point” messages for the workforce to use in their community interactions; and systematic senior leader interactions with governmental, business, and social organizations.”
At one of the Hospital Board Committee meetings the question of how much a parcel would be taxed arose. The answers that came back most: either $150 or $250. Another query concerned taxing parcels of varying sizes. Both CEO Edwards and Hospital Foundation President Lund responded identically, “A parcel is a parcel.”
Readers may want to keep in mind that parcels within the Mendocino Coast Hospital District vary in size from town lots to single parcels of corporate timberland that measure in the hundreds of acres each.

                                                                          Link to Anderson Valley Advertiser:  www.theava.com

Last week's article concluded with a reminder that venues for emergency weather shelters (EWS) are still needed on the Mendocino Coast. Lynelle Johnson, one of the Board members of the Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center (MCHC) provided me with the reminder as well as the partially filled schedule for EWS through early April. When she first showed me the EWS schedule after the January 20th Mendocino County Behavioral Health Advisory Board meeting (There's a mouthful and a half. Why call it the Mental Health Board when five extra syllables can be attached!?). At that time the week of January of Jan. 24th through the 30th was blank, apparently meaning no organizations had come forward to provide a suitable location for shelter should the need arise during that particular week. I told Mrs. Johnson that the AVA would come out too late to be of any assistance for the last week of January. She seemed to understand.

Forward to Monday, January 25th and the Fort Bragg City Council meeting. A homeless woman announced in the Public Comments session that she had been turned away from EWS by Hospitality House officials (the pilot organization of MCHC) on at least one recent wet and cold night. Outside Town Hall the same woman, Julie Winkelmeyer (who also goes by “Julie Generic” on the Facebook page Fort Bragg Street Post), asserted that a police officer had entered the Hospitality Center that very Monday afternoon to ask why the emergency weather shelter had been closed at some point over the previous weekend. According to Winkelmeyer, an MCHC employee told the officer something close to this: “We can't tell you why.” Winkelmeyer indicated that the tone used to inform the officer seemed to imply something along the line of, 'and we don't have to tell you.'
In the Fort Bragg Advocate-News, Anna Shaw, executive director of MCHC, is quoted as saying that the EWS has been open every night weather has warranted. Coincidentally, days before that article appeared last Thursday, Julie Winkelmeyer, standing on a chilly street corner of Fort Bragg was able to quote verbatim the same criteria Shaw cited for EWS opening, a forecast that calls for at least a twenty percent chance of rain or the temperature dropping to 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below.
Winkelmeyer seemed to be one of the sharpest, most coherent homeless folks I'd run into in awhile, so on that same cold night, following the Fort Bragg City Council meeting, I left a message for one of my law enforcement sources. I drove south on Main Street, hoping Starbucks would still be open (Normally I disdain the corporate brew for the A frame south of Noyo Bridge or the coffee drinks at the Mendocino Cookie Company in the Company Store. At a more appropriate time we'll explore delectable treats at Mendocino's Good Life Bakery, but, for now, back to our story.).
With a just-before-closing Starbucks “venti” mocha in hand I entered Safeway for a few items. Tucked in a remote corner of the produce section my cell phone vibrated. It proved to be one of those law enforcement sources, who promised to check on the reliability of the homeless woman's claim about an officer being rebuffed at the Hospitality Center.
In the pre-dawn hours of the following morning the law enforcement source replied via email that yes, an officer had gone into the Hospitality Center at more or less the precise time described by the homeless woman. And, yes, the officer in question felt that the Hospitality Center staff and/or volunteers he spoke with were evasive about the topic of possible EWS closures and they acted as if they were put out by his bringing up the question at all. The officer's general take-away from the situation was that either someone at the Hospitality Center had “dropped the ball” regarding the EWS or that some sort of cover up was going on.
One of the more obvious take-aways from an objective point of view is why did a questionable situation arise to begin with. Why weren't contingency plans for back up shelter locations put in place last fall, long before the weather turned cold and rainy?

                                                                           Link to Anderson Valley Advertiser:  www.theava.com

The January 20th meeting of the County Behavioral Health Advisory Board (BHAB) was held at what some might term “ground zero” on the Mendocino Coast. In other words the location was the former Old Coast Hotel at the corner of Oak and Franklin Streets in Fort Bragg, now known as the Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center (MCHC).

No sooner had the prior meeting's minutes been approved and “Public Comments” opened, Douglas Chouteau, who resides on Airport Road just north of Fort Bragg, made it clear that he believes that a rash of crimes in and near Fort Bragg has provided reason enough for criminal background checking of every client entering the Hospitality Center. At the end of the Public Comment session the new Board of Supervisors representative to the BHAB, John McCowen (replacing Dan Hamburg) stated, “There will be no background checks.”
He went on, “People with mental health issues are far more likely to be victims of crime than they are to commit a crime.”
At this point Mr. Chouteau uttered some loud, reactive phrases that couldn't be accurately heard at the other side of the room where yours truly sat. Chouteau's remarks were soon followed by those of his wife, Alice. In calmer tones, she presented what she considered a reasonable comparative scenario in which a driver is pulled over by the California Highway Patrol. In such an instance, Alice Chouteau insisted the CHP officer would run a check on the car and driver, and if that is so then why can't we background check all Hospitality Center clients.
Behavioral Health Advisory Board member (and Secretary) Dina Ortiz fumbled through one or two responses before settling on saying, “Sounds like what the Nazis did.”
And there you have it, Trumpism wrapped in the National Socialist Worker's Party has seemingly reared heads in Fort Bragg.
Right about here, the historically minded might be recalling Pastor Niemoller's famous lines: “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Socialist.
“Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
“Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Jew.
“Then they came for me- and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Originally Niemoller included another line, “Then they came for the sick, the so-called incurables...”
It is easy to lump and label, groups or solutions. The issue of mental health services is a bit more complex, even if major parts of the answer lie in simple things like Sheriff Tom Allman's desire to build a county mental health facility.
Some of the problems remain the same. Dr. Andrea McCullough of the Mendocino Coast District Hospital (MCDH) appeared in the afternoon session. Representatives of Ortner Management Group had left the premises by that time. They probably didn't want to hear Dr. McCullough describe her experiences at MCDH in regard to the widely variable standard of service displayed when Ortner sends a crisis worker from inland to respond to mental health issues on the coast. McCullough did offer praise to Redwood Community Services for their work with under twenty-five year-olds at MCDH's Emergency Room. In turn she had positive remarks for the work done by the local subcontractor for adult mental health services, Integrated Care Management Solutions, as well as superlatives for the Fort Bragg Police Department and Sheriff's deputies who give up hour after hour of their law enforcement time baby sitting potential 5150 cases in MCDH's Emergency Room. McCullough stated that such situations often amount to 3-4 hour waits for Ortner personnel to arrive from inland Mendocino County at night or on weekends. McCullough pointed out that the inland providers sent by Ortner almost never identify what credentials they possess (Licensed social worker, MFT, and on down the educational and professional ladder). She also said that in a number of cases the physician on duty in the ER have had drastically differing opinions concerning the case at hand than the Ortner provider crisis responder. Readers may remember that Dr. Mcullough was one of dozens of Mendocino County ER professionals who signed on to a letter presented to the Board of Supervisors in December, a letter questioning the work of Ortner Management Group in regard to adult mental health clients seen in all of Mendocino County's hospitals.
Readers may also want to know that Anna Shaw, the executive director of Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center, was present at the January 20th meeting, but any questions directed to the Hospitality Center were answered by its Board President, Gary Johnson, or his wife, Lynelle Johnson, also a board member of MCHC.
After the meeting concluded Gary Johnson gave me a brief tour of the upstairs quarters of MCHC, where five rooms/apartments will eventually be made available for people transitioning out of homelessness. These rooms will not be used until this summer because a sixth, larger room is being restructured into a communal area with a full kitchen. In that area Johnson pointed out what has been reported/rumored to be widespread lead contamination. Johnson pointed to an area approximately eight feet long by three inches wide, stating that the entirety of the lead was confined to a single piece of boarding. He said it would be removed during the upcoming renovation. Work is not expected to commence in those upstairs rooms until February. The Johnsons' said this seeming delay was due only to MCHC following all the regulations in regard to renovation, including acquiring professional architectural plans for the renovation as well as due diligence in getting competitive bids for the work to be done.
Lynelle Johnson also made mention of the fact that while many church organizations have made halls available for this winter's Emergency Weather Shelters (EWS) on the Mendocino Coast, there is still a need for shelter locations for the weeks of February 15-20th, March 7-13th, March 14-20th, as well as the final week of March and the first two weeks of April. Anyone who can help out with the Emergency Winter Shelter should call Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center at 707-961-0172, remembering that outside of weekday business hours you are likely to get a voice directory instead of a real person.