Mental Health

Updated at 1:55 p.m. ET

The House has approved legislation that would make it harder to keep veterans who are “mentally incapacitated, deemed mentally incompetent” or prone to blackouts from buying guns. Critics of the bill say it could raise the suicide rate among veterans — a rate that has risen in the past decade.

At least a dozen Democrats joined Republicans to support the bill, which was approved by a 240-175 vote.

The legislation would add a new hurdle to the process of blocking a veteran whose mental competence is in question from owning a gun. While the Department of Veterans Affairs currently adds the names of veterans it deems unfit to own a deadly weapon to a federal background check system, the bill would require a court hearing before that determination is made.

“About 170,000 disabled veterans are deemed mentally incompetent by the VA,” NPR’s Quil Lawrence reports. “A VA-approved guardian makes some medical and financial decisions for them. Their names go on an FBI list so they can’t purchase guns — House Republicans sponsored the Veterans’ Second Amendment Protection Act to change that.”

Opponents of the bill say that easing gun ownership for mentally disabled veterans would make them a greater threat to themselves. As recently as 2014, an average of 20 veterans per day died from suicide, according to statistics released last year by the VA Suicide Prevention Program. Between 2001 and 2014, the VA said, the suicide rate among U.S. veterans rose by more than 32 percent.

Backers of the bill, such as Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., the chair of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, say it would help veterans avoid being caught up in a bureaucracy that can make it tough to remove a negative label. Roe also cited the importance of “removing the stigma of mentally ill people — that because someone is mentally ill, they’re a danger to themselves or others.”

On the other side of the issue, Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md., said, “When a determination is made that a veteran is mentally incompetent or incapacitated — for whatever reason — that determination is made to protect them, not to punish or deprive them.”

Critics of the bill include retired Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the former vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army. Speaking to Quil about why he opposed the bill, Chiarelli said, “Every single study you can read on this shows you that people in crisis — because suicide is such a spontaneous event — when they separate themselves from personal weapons the incidence of suicide goes down tremendously.”

The House legislation will now go to the Senate. It would change U.S. law by adding this section to sections governing veterans’ benefits:

“Conditions for treatment of certain persons as adjudicated mentally incompetent for certain purposes

“In any case arising out of the administration by the Secretary of laws and benefits under this title, a person who is mentally incapacitated, deemed mentally incompetent, or experiencing an extended loss of consciousness shall not be considered adjudicated as a mental defective under subsection (d)(4) or (g)(4) of section 922 of title 18 without the order or finding of a judge, magistrate, or other judicial authority of competent jurisdiction that such person is a danger to himself or herself or others.”.

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

The historic Bergmann Hotel used as a tenement has been condemned by the City and Borough of Juneau over health and safety hazards.

Tenants were coming to terms Friday with the city’s condemnation order.

Code violations have been ongoing for years, but few tenants realized this was really the end.

“I read that sign and walked right past it just like most every other tenants did, probably most of them didn’t even read it — a few of them can’t,” said Dave Lane, a carpenter who works as a handyman in exchange for lodging.

The Bergmann Hotel was built in 1913. It’s been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1977.

The city says the owners had been on notice since October.

“There’s significant health and safety issues at the Bergmann including an inoperable sprinkler system for fire, inconsistent heating, no hot water, sewage issues and improper roofing,” Deputy City Manager Mila Cosgrove said, “All of those issues pose significant risks to the people who are tenants there.”

About 50 people live in the building. Most pay about $600 a month. Tenants do much of the repair and upkeep themselves to keep the heat on and water flowing.

James Cole, 49, said he was caught off guard as he worked to clear out the basement.

“The whole point of it is I just gave them $600 yesterday for rent and the guy — he wouldn’t give me my money back,” Cole said. “I told him, ‘Dude. I just gave you $600 just yesterday.’ Now if I don’t get my $600 back — I’m going to take him to court. I want my money back if I can’t stay here.”

The city said it’s working with social service agencies to help displaced tenants with nowhere to go. As many as 30 spaces have been available at its downtown church.

“We’ll be open every night for them until Tuesday from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. so they can sleep,” said Lt. Dana Walters of the Salvation Army. “We have cots, we have blankets. People are allowed to bring like one bag with them but then they have to take it. We unfortunately don’t have room for people to store things.”

The hotel property is controlled by Camilla Barrett who owns it through a limited liability corporation.

Barrett also is a defendant named in a lawsuit brought by the city in its attempt to recover the cost of demolishing the Gastineau Apartments, a fire-ravaged downtown property owned by a limited liability corporation controlled by the Barrett family.

Dave Lane said he’s worked for about three years to try to keep the building habitable.

But there’s been little investment from the Barretts, he said.

“Right now they don’t get a lot out of it so they don’t want to put a lot into it,” Lane said. “They’re not looking into the fact that, ‘Okay — if we put some money into this’ Because I mean, look at this place … it wouldn’t really take that much to put this into — have it a really nice building.”

Efforts to reach Camilla Barrett – whose legal name is listed as Kathleen Barrett — and her attorney that represented her in the city’s lawsuit over the Gastineau Apartments were unsuccessful.

Many of the residents suffer from mental illness and substance abuse.

“We do support safety and things like that. We don’t want to see our mental health consumers housed in a dilapidated situation,”said Gregory Fitch, executive director of the Mental Health Consumer Action Network in Juneau. “But considering the cold — I think we could’ve waited a week.”

The National Weather Service forecasts temperatures to dip into the 20s over the weekend.

Juneau struggles with homelessness and a lack of affordable housing. It remains unclear what options many of these tenants will have after the city boards up the Third Street property.

While waiting for federal legislation to expedite a land exchange between the U.S. Forest Service and Alaska Mental Health Trust, state officials are working on a companion bill in the Alaska Legislature.

Rep. Dan Ortiz of Ketchikan introduced House Bill 155 to help move the land trade forward.

The bill would approve exchanging about 18,000 acres of Mental Health land for about 20,000 acres of Forest Service land.

The Mental Health Trust lands included in the exchange are sensitive sites close to communities, and there was significant push back when Mental Health officials announced last year that the agency would log those sites if the exchange wasn’t approved.

Those sites include parcels on Ketchikan’s Deer Mountain and a steep slope above homes in Petersburg.

Wyn Menefee, deputy director of Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office, said the exchange needs both federal and state legislation to move forward.

“The idea is to provide lands to the Trust — Forest Service lands – that are more conducive for making revenue,” he said. “That would likely be timber harvest, is one of the primary things. That would be mostly out in Prince of Wales Island, by Naukati and Hollis; and then also over by Shelter Cove behind Ketchikan.”

Menefee expects a hearing on the federal legislation by the end of March or early April, and he hopes it will be approved this summer. He encourages area residents to contact their representatives to voice support for both the federal and state bills.

Ortiz said HB155 has not yet been scheduled for a hearing. It first will go to the Resources Committee, and then probably to Finance. He said he introduced the bill in response to local concerns.

“It became apparent to me that the folks in Ketchikan, in particular, didn’t want to see Deer Mountain logged,” he said. “This particular bill, if it passes, will match the federal bill and if it passes, it (allows) the land swap so the Mental Health Trust doesn’t have to consider logging the Deer Mountain area.”

Sen. Bert Stedman of Sitka plans to introduce a Senate version of the bill, Ortiz said. Ortiz expects that the state legislation will not have much, if any, opposition.

“Because this is generally a pro-jobs bill (and) it’s a bill that allows the Mental Health Trust to follow through with their responsibilities, I don’t think there’s going to be much opposition to it,” he said. “I can’t see where that opposition would come.”

Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office officials are planning public information meetings in affected communities in a few weeks. Two already have been scheduled for March 21 in Ketchikan and March 23 in Petersburg.

Menefee said other meetings are planned elsewhere, but have not yet been scheduled.

“This is more or less an effort to update the communities about what we’re doing and about the legislation,” he said. “We want to inform folks how to get involved and help that along. We already had meetings in Ketchikan and in Petersburg, but we want to go out to some of the other communities that we didn’t get to and give people an opportunity to heat what we’re trying to accomplish: Why it’s good for them, why it’s good for us.”

Menefee said the exchange will help Southeast’s timber industry by providing a timber harvest while the Forest Service continues its move away from old-growth timber sales. That timber harvest also would provide funds for mental health services throughout the state.

Editor’s note: KTOO’s building sits on land leased from the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. KTOO has also applied for and received occasional grants for special reporting projects from the authority.

A new bill is aimed at curbing opioid addiction and overdose deaths. The bill lets patients tell health care providers and hospitals to not give them opioids. It also requires health care providers receive training in opioid addiction.

Gov. Bill Walker introduced the bill.

“It’s not the be-all-and-end-all,” Walker said. “There’s many paths to recovery. There’s many other things that we are working on. But this is one we believe is quite significant.”

The bill also limits initial opioid prescriptions to a seven-day supply. The measure requires pharmacists and veterinarians to register their prescriptions in a database. Doctors and nurses who prescribe opioids would check the database.

The database would be updated daily instead of once a week if the bill is enacted. And prescribers would get a report card from the state Board of Pharmacy indicating how frequently they prescribe opioids compared with similar providers.

Health and Social Services Commissioner Valerie “Nurr’araaluk” Davidson said another important piece of treating addiction is the state’s Medicaid expansion. It’s added health coverage for 30,000 Alaskans.

“Every one of us in this room knows somebody – we’re related to somebody, we have somebody – who is struggling with opioid addiction,” Davidson said. “And I would encourage you, that if you think that’s not true, I would encourage you to look a little bit harder.”

Walker introduced the bill at press conference Monday in which he announced other opioid-related measures. The state will begin giving prison inmates who enter with addictions the medication Vivitrol. It helps them overcome addiction by blocking the effects of opioid drugs.

Two versions of the bill — House Bill 159 and Senate Bill 79 — were referred to the Health and Social Services and Finance committees in each body.

The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority is trying to change the laws that govern how it uses its principal funds.

Some board members hope the legislation will pass soon enough that the organization does not have to undergo a special legislative audit.

The Trust was created to fund mental health programming around the state.

It came under scrutiny last year because the Board of Trustees was investing the Trust’s principal on their own instead of having it managed by the Permanent Fund.

Some of the people who helped create the current Trust in the mid-1990s said that violates the state statutes put in place to safeguard the Trust into perpetuity.

A special legislative audit was ordered in December.

Trust Interim CEO Greg Jones said state Sen. Anna MacKinnon requested the Board submit legislation for consideration.

He said the proposed laws would give the Board and the Trust Land Office the legal authority to do what they’re already doing with the principal.

“For years we’ve used it for a variety of things – stewardship of our land, increasing the value of our resources, diversifying our income,” he said. “We believe those are all appropriate things for the Trust to do, but they aren’t addressed in current statue and current laws.”

The current statue was crafted more than 20 years ago and said the principal shall be invested by the Permanent Fund, not by the Board of Trustees.

Jones said it’s time for an update. He is working with lawyers and the Attorney General’s office to draft the new legislation, which will include limits on what the Trust can invest in and will tie the expenditures to the mission of the Trust.

Vice chair Mary Jane Michael and other board members expressed frustration during a special Tuesday board meeting that the legislation was not ready to present yet.

Michael said until new legislation is passed, the Board can no longer invest in income-generating commercial real estate.

“It’s costing us ultimately millions of dollars,” she said. “We’re losing our connections to the Outside investing world. You know, it’s impacting us.”

Michael and board chair Russ Webb said passing new legislation could make the legislative audit unnecessary.

“There’s nothing more important we could do right now than to get legislation going,” Michael told the board. “’Cause it will save us a lot of work in the long run if we don’t have to have the audit, and we don’t have to a lot of these other things because we’ve dealt with what we need to deal with.”

Jones reported to the board that the audit is scheduled to start in May and could take about a year to complete.

Some of the Trust’s advisory boards wrote letters last year supporting the completion of the audit because of concerns about the Trust’s “lack of transparency and meaningful public process related to land management and property acquisition.”

Jones said the Trust will also be undergoing an organizational review that might overhaul its structure and bylaws.

Editor’s note: KTOO’s building sits on land leased from the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. KTOO has also applied for and received occasional grants for special reporting projects from the authority.

Juneau school counselors wear multiple hats.

They help with career readiness, relationship counseling and last year some students had an unfortunate reminder that their counselors can help them grieve.

Unexpected deaths can have a ripple effect in Juneau.

Last fall, a music teacher for both Floyd Dryden Middle School and Thunder Mountain High School died from a heart attack, and a 17-year-old Thunder Mountain student died from an accidental gunshot wound.

Kelly Hansen is the school counselor at Floyd Dryden.

“I think that whenever there is a loss or some sort of situation where there is a pretty large impact, it can really impact families, so there’ll be kids at the high school that have siblings at the elementary or at the middle school that might know the family or have a connection with the teacher,” Hansen said.

After the deaths, the district’s crisis response team comprised of counselors, psychologists and administrators offered support. Hansen said some of the kids at Floyd Dryden came looking for her.

“There was a few kids that kind of needed a quiet place to talk and to listen,” Hansen said. “I didn’t feel like it disrupted my day or my week more than normal. I feel like we responded and provided support where we needed to.”

She said during a crisis other staff also let her know which kids are having a hard time and she makes a point to check up on them.

Phil Merrell is the counselor at Thunder Mountain High School. He said schools are like small communities and anytime there’s a loss, emotions run strong.

“When one of those persons is lost, everyone is affected, everybody feels it to varying degrees,” Merrell said. “So for sure, there’s a change, there’s a sense of loss, but at the same time there’s a deepening sense of community, too, in that, ‘OK, we can come together, we can support each other.’”

Now it’s a new year and Merrell was reluctant to say his kids were back to normal, but he said there’s definitely a new sense of positivity in the school.

While the recent deaths highlighted the role school counselor’s play in a crisis, Merrell said that’s not the only part of their jobs.

“It’s not easy to be in school, it’s not easy to be a young person in our culture,” he said. “… That generation Y, this idea of when do you become an adult, what is adolescence is just stretching and stretching a whole lot.”

Merrell said he serves as a bridge for students. He said he tries to support them socially, emotionally, academically and in finding future careers.

Hansen added that counselors can serve to boost morale throughout the school.

She said that she meets with kids and parents to talk about their classes, issues at home or at school.

She helps connect families with services they might need – everything from introducing them to the right administrators to helping them find food.

She serves as a mediator, she’s a case manager for kids with disabilities, and she said counselors are just a safe place for kids.

“Kind of going back (to) kids knowing that they have someone they can talk to that will keep their confidence and that they won’t break confidentiality unless it had to do with the safety of them or someone else,” Hansen said.

In a recent budget meeting, multiple residents and school principals asked the Juneau School Board to make funding for counseling staff and social-emotional needs a priority in their budget.