Nevada health officials wrapped up inspections of group homes for mentally ill clients in northern Nevada on Thursday. This follows an investigative report by the Reno Gazette-Journal last week that found mentally ill patients living in squalid conditions. Reno Public Radio's Julia Ritchey sat down with Anjeanette Damon, the reporter who broke that story, to find out what went wrong.
In her investigation, Damon toured a home in Sparks rented by a group called Project Uplift to care for four mentally ill patients.
“The conditions in the home were pretty deplorable,” says Damon. “Carpets were extremely stained, the garage was covered in cigarette butts and ashes. … The bedrooms were in really bad condition; the walls were dirty; the mattresses were torn and ripped.”
The problem, Damon discovered, was primarily one of oversight.
“This particular classification of [group] home is really poorly regulated,” she says. “There are no state regulations that oversee how these homes are supposed to run.”
When the state has a mentally ill patient, it can contract with a service provider like Project Uplift that has housing. That service provider can consolidate up to five clients in one house.
Although those patients are checked on by state caseworkers, Damon says, there’s no framework for ensuring that their living conditions are up to par.
“In talking with the director of Health and Human Services [Richard Whitley], who is ultimately the individual responsible … he also states that this probably an oversight problem and not necessarily a resource problem,” he says. “This particular way of supporting clients falls out of any regulatory framework.
Project Uplift has since closed due to financial problems, but state officials are promising changes. There are about 390 clients with mental illness living in northern Nevada.
“Long term, Mr. Whitley and others are looking at regulatory changes ... [and] a better way to oversee these services.”
To see more of Damon’s reporting, visit the Reno Gazette-Journal.
