Advocacy E-News July 11, 2019
July 11, 2019
GREYSTONE HEARING SCHEDULED IN FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT
The first hearing on the lawsuit brought by the Division of Mental Health Advocacy
Office of the Public Defender regarding conditions at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital will be held on Friday, July 19, 2019, at 11:00 AM, before Judge Esther Salas at Federal District Court, 50 Walnut Street, Newark. The public is welcome to attend.
GREYSTONE DOCTOR: STAFF CAN’T STOP VIOLENT PATIENT ‘RAMPAGES’
An on-call psychiatrist at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital testified Wednesday that staff at the state-run facility in Parsippany are afraid of violent patients committed there, and are unable to stop their “psychiatrically decompensated rampages.” Another doctor’s alarming recollection of his nine-year tenure at Greystone was contained in a reply brief in support of a recent motion for injunctive relief, the latest filing in an ongoing class-action lawsuit against the New Jersey Department of Health, submitted by the state office of the Public Defender on behalf of 11 current or former patients.
Read the full Daily Record story
WATSON COLEMAN INTRODUCES RESOLUTION TO ACKNOWLEDGE DISPARITIES IN MENTAL HEALTH CARE
Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) introduced a resolution calling for more research by the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities into racial disparities in diagnosing and treating mental health among youth. H.Res. 480 is intended to raise awareness for and address deficiencies in access to mental health care.
HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSIONER NAMES NEW MEDICAID DIRECTOR
Human Services Commissioner Carole Johnson today announced that Jennifer Langer Jacobs will lead New Jersey Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Programs, which together are known as NJ FamilyCare and provide affordable health care coverage to 1.7 million New Jersey residents. Jacobs replaces former Medicaid Director Meghan Davey, who recently left Human Services to pursue other opportunities.
TABERNACLE STUDENT USES MISS NJ STAGE TO ADVOCATE FOR MENTAL HEALTH
Part-time model and full-time psychology student, a Burlington County contestant in the Miss New Jersey competition wants to help kids feel in control of their mental health.