Walker appoints co-chairs of Mental Health Advisory Committee

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker announced the appointments of co-chairs for the Mental Health Community Advisory Board will be Barbara Beckert, Milwaukee office director of Disability Rights Wisconsin, and, Paula Lucey, executive director of Willowglen Academy, a subsidiary of Phoenix Care Systems.
Lucey, who is the former director of the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, also is a registered nurse.
“Barbara has worked tirelessly for those with disabilities like mental illness. Her work with patients and their families will bring a much needed perspective to the committee,” Walker said. “Paula has tremendous respect throughout the county and brings a wealth of knowledge to the table.”
The Community Advisory Board is being created to provide input on policies regarding patient safety and mental health treatment on the Acute Care Unit at the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division. The committee will include consumers, law enforcement, clinicians, mental health advocates and a county board representative.
County Board Chairman Lee Holloway will appoint the members of the Community Advisory Board with input from the co-chairs.
The Community Advisory Board is being created after various reports of abuse of mental health patients in the county system. Four Milwaukee-area legislators recently called for a state audit of the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex, citing the reports of patient abuse. The legislators calling for the audit are Reps. Tamara Grigsby, Jon Richards, Pedro Colón and Sandy Pasch, all of whom are Democrats.
Walker is a Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor.
“Scott Walker’s history of mismanagement and neglect goes back years. Under Scott Walker’s watch, assaults on staff jumped by 50 percent. One veteran nurse was battered in 2007, leaving the woman with a concussion, bruises and memory lapses. Another nurse was choked. A third was punched in the eye,” Grigsby said. “And in 2006 one patient starved to death and another was found starving and the state declared all patients were in immediate jeopardy, the highest alert possible after an inspection discovered 11 federal safety and health violations.”
– BizTimes Milwaukee