Humboldt County’s public guardians, or people who care for elderly or disabled residents, are severely under-funded and carry higher caseloads than counties of smaller size, the county’s civil grand jury finds in its latest report.
Released
on Wednesday, the report flags large disparities in the average caseload of a
public guardian in Humboldt County versus elsewhere. The jury calls for more
budgeted funds, additional hiring and more reporting of information to the
Patients’ Rights Advocate, which oversees people who come under the care of
public guardians.
The
jury’s recommendations come with urgency, since, it notes, guardians have had
to care for a rapidly increasing number of patients each month since June 2019.
“There
is every reason to believe that these disparities in total clients and
clients-per-guardian between Humboldt and other counties will continue to grow,
particularly because of the inevitable care which will be required for the
aging ‘boomer’ generation,” the report states.
The
civil grand jury, a citizen-comprised body, investigates different matters
affecting Humboldt County’s various practices. The jury issues a number of
reports each year; the report released Wednesday is the sixth of eight to be
published in 2020.
Among
its recommendations, the jury calls on the Humboldt County Department of Health
and Human Services to “hire an additional (fourth) deputy public guardian in
order to ensure the office can manage its caseloads.”
Upon
receiving a complaint, the jury investigated and found that the county was not
giving the Patients Rights’ Advocate full information about patients under
guardian care, including an unredacted daily census count.
The
complaint to the jury alleged that “new implementations” of the county’s
“existing confidentiality policy were adversely affecting, and even potentially
obstructing,” the Patients’ Rights Advocate’s state-mandated duties.
“Out
of fear for going astray of the administration’s strict enforcement of
confidentiality, the (advocate) has been reluctant to perform these duties,”
the report states.
The
jury calls on the county’s health department and board of supervisors to issue
a response to the report within 60 days.
Eureka
Times-Standard
Shomik Mukherjee
June 25, 2020
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