TO All staff
FROM Derald Walker, Chief Executive Officer of Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare
DATE June 27, 2008
SUBJECT Latest news

I’m writing to summarize what’s going on, including the departure of many Cascadia employees. (Please see the note on this below.)

I hope you trust that I clearly understand how difficult this for all of us, and for our consumers and their families. Thank you for your efforts in maintaining the continuity and quality of care that our consumers need and deserve. The stories I hear from the field, from employees and from consumers and families, are a continuing source of inspiration.

For today the best I can do is to attempt to keep you up to date, and let you know what I know and what I do not know. Please advise if you notice any details that are missing or in need of correction.

This is what I know:

· Gresham and Garlington remain on Multnomah County’s plan for transfer, but the timelines and the names of the replacement providers are still being discussed between the County and potential providers. Nothing is yet settled.
· We continue to work with Marion County. No decisions have been made.
· Due to a better understanding of what services Cascadia will offer in the future, and where, new client intake has resumed. Cascadia now accepts new clients as follows:
· We accept new MH child and adult counseling clients at our Woodland Park site.
· We accept new MH adult psychiatric clients at our Downtown site.
· We accept new MH adult psychiatric clients at our Plaza site.
· We accept new MH clients at our Gresham or Garlington sites on a case by case basis.
· We continue to receive broad support for maintaining our housing system.
· A & D and other intakes have never changed and remain open to new intakes.
· The plan is to transfer one Multnomah County ACT team to Central City Concern, although final arrangements between Multnomah County and CCC are still being discussed. The timing is not yet set.
· The programs at the Beaverton and Hillsboro Centers, TAY, MIOS, TNP, House of Umoja, and Bridgeview are scheduled to transition to other providers in the next few days.
· Members of the Cascadia Consumer/Survivors Advisory Council will host an open public conversation next week at the Garlington Center, sponsored by the Northwest Health Foundation, to discuss the future of local community-based behavioral health. Contact Della at Garlington for details (dellaf@cascadiabhc.org). I’ve heard of some interest in having a similar event, focused on the issues specifically impacting Gresham/East Multnomah County. Nothing is yet planned, but if this interests you please advise our Director of Consumer & Family Involvement, Sharon Gary-Smith (sharong@cascadiabhc.org); or ask consumers or family members to contact her.
· Cascadia Senior leadership (Chip, Enrique, Barb and me) are holding twice-weekly meetings with NAMI, other consumer advocates, and Multnomah County for the purpose of coordinating efforts to transfer contracts in a way that supports the best interests of consumers, the community, and employees.
· We are honoring our Memorandum of Understanding with Multnomah County, and our partnership with the county that the agreement represents, yet we remain flexible and open to continuing any contracts, if that would be in the best interest of the consumers and the community; and if in so doing, such changes would be advisable for Cascadia’s financial health.

Beyond all this there are few issues that are unsettled and that need attention in the coming days and weeks.

This is what I do not know:

· The final plans for paying back the loan from Multnomah County and State.
· The details of the planned transfer of Gresham and Garlington clinics. We do not know the timeline or the replacement providers.

All in all, as difficult as this is, I see that we are making incremental progress in some areas, but the complexity of the situation and the ever changing nature of this process makes it difficult to provide accurate predictions on the timing and ultimate outcome on just about all fronts.

Finally, I want to note that with the closure of our Beaverton and Hillsboro Centers, TAY, MIOS, TNP, House of Umoja, and Bridgeview, and with some resignations across our multi-county enterprise, some wonderful people are leaving Cascadia. I wish you all the very best in the future and thank you for your dedicated service. Also, I hear that many employees have elected to not leave the company and have taken new positions in other Cascadia programs. I also wish the best to you, and find some comfort in knowing that the talent and compassion you all hold will remain in the community.

+ + + +

TO All staff
FROM Derald Walker, Chief Executive Officer of Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare
DATE June 27, 2008 – later in the day
SUBJECT Latest news – supplement

In my recent update I asked you to advise me if there were any details missing or in need of correction. Thank you for doing just that.

I’ve heard from people involved in our residential sites that I failed to mention these essential services in my update. This was an error and I apologize for the oversight. The following item should have appeared in the list of the things I know:

Residential services at Bridgeview are scheduled to be transferred to Luke Dorf as of July 7. Other than this change, our portfolio of residential services will remain as it is.