By PAUL J. CONDRA
As it stands, the county legislature and County Executive Thomas Suozzi are considering terminating the case managers' contract with the county, and contracting out the patient-case loads to independent health workers.
The issue was underscored last month after a patient who apparently slipped through the cracks in the Nassau health care system shot and killed two people inside Our Lady of Peace R.C. Church in Lynbrook during Mass. The killings of the Rev. Lawrence Penzes and parishioner Eileen Tosner have brought the situation of mental health care in Nassau and the overburdened Nassau case managers who deal with it to the forefront of county debate as it is now more apparent than ever the current system needs changing.
The question for county planners is how best to implement Kendra's Law, legislation intended to ensure Nassau County residents would be protected from mentally ill patients who are potentially dangerous.
The Lynbrook case has shown what happens when you don't have these folks implementing Kendra's law, said Rolando Tomas Infante, from the Civil Service Employees Association of which the case workers are members.
In a meeting of the Nassau County Legislature last week, Leg. Francis Becker (R-Lynbrook) said he believes Suozzi should continue to recognize the contract the county has with case managers. For Becker, who is a parishioner of the church where the killings took place and who knew the murdered priest, the statements are especially personal.
It has been reported that the man accused of the murders, Peter Troy, 34, of Lynbrook, was a Nassau Mental Health patient who did not receive the attention he needed because case managers were too busy with other cases. Currently, there are 37 Nassau case managers to deal with the thousands of patients who require attention.
Suozzi had been considering axing the county program altogether and contracting the cases out to independent workers, a plan that has been under consideration for years.
But Becker said the county should reinvest in the current system of mental health care. He, along with many in the union, share the opinion that the apparent lapse in the health care system is not a fault of the health workers, but of a lack of commitment by the county.
According to union representatives, the number of case workers has dwindled from 100 over the past few years because the county has not sought to change the high turnover rate of the job.
Infante said salaries have stayed at $25,000 to $30,000 while jobs for people with similar qualifications are paying twice or three times as much. In addition, there has been constant job insecurity as the county has been reluctant to make a final decision on whether to recognize the union case workers.
These are people who want to contribute to
the county they live in, Infante said, adding that the county is making it very difficult for them.
Infante said Troy was put on a waiting list, but that he obviously should have been reached sooner.
The murders took place March 12. Troy allegedly wrestled with another parishioner before he fled the church and locked himself in his home until police broke down the door and arrested him. It was later revealed that he had a history of psychiatric treatment in Nassau County.
