As the Spokane Regional Health District board continues to debate whether or not to take the next step down the road towards privatization of their Treatment Services Division, the drawn-out process is starting to have real consequences. Six employees have quit their jobs in the division since SRHD’s Feasibility Study on privatization began and “morale is at an all time low,” according to union representative Suzie Saunders.
Community advocate hadley morrow stated they had received five voicemails from a client of the Treatment Services Division who had lost their counselor and was spiraling with fear about the potential loss of services — the client is subsidized by Medicare and is worried if a private provider takes over the division, their access to services would disappear.
But for the second time in as many months, a decision from the Spokane Regional Health District board on whether or not to move forward in their process to study privatization of their opioid Treatment Services Division was deferred.
Board member Charlie Duranona was absent due to travel, which was a factor in the unanimous vote to defer. Other board members — Spokane City Council Member Michael Cathcart and County Commissioner Mary Kuney — said they both needed more time to review additional pro forma financial projections provided by Dr. Alicia Thompson at the board’s request.
The financial projections were very detailed, and the accountant who prepared them was not available to take questions during the meeting. Nor was Treatment Services Director Misty Challinor, who Thompson said is on leave at least until December 5, and unavailable to take questions, leaving board members wanting more information before they could make a vote.
All five public comment spots were filled: a union representative of Treatment Services employees, a manager of Treatment Services, a street medicine doctor, a med student and a community advocate. All five public testimonies asked the SRHD board to vote against continuing down the road towards privatization and instead focus resources on bolstering Treatment Services as a public health entity.
They all pointed back to Thompson’s presentation on Phase One, which found that overwhelmingly, community stakeholders surveyed about the prospect of privatization were in favor of keeping the division public.
morrow, who was independently contracted to collect and share data and community feedback with the SRHD board, finished their testimony by once again asking the board to end the Feasibility Study and refocus on the 1,000 clients the division already serves.
"Moving forward to me really signals a lack of care and intentionality towards clients," morrow, who was dressed in a roadkill costume for Halloween, said. "This is not the time to be destabilizing care for these clients. Please don't make clients roadkill in this process. Thank you and Happy Halloween.”
Read our live-tweet of the meeting here or watch it in full here.
