Mental health director is no longer resigning

By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer

A key state mental health official who had said he would resign will now remain on the job.

Thomas Hester, head of the Department of Health's Adult Mental Health Division, told staff members and others last week that he would resign.

Hester said last week he was resigning because a state attorney told him that he would be losing his authority over the community mental health plan being developed by the state. The change came after discussions among state and federal lawyers.

But Hester said yesterday that the lawyer didn't make it clear how definitive that course of action would be.

Following a Tuesday afternoon meeting with Gov. Linda Lingle and Bob Awana, her chief of staff, Hester yesterday said he felt "very encouraged."

He said the "unambiguous message" from them was that they will find a way in which the state, the mentally ill, the agencies that provide them services and the federal courts can work together.

Hester has been working on the Department of Health's community mental health plan, which must be implemented under a federal consent decree by June 1, 2006. The plan would provide services and treatment for Hawai'i's estimated 9,000 seriously mentally ill residents.

A three-member panel of mental health experts evaluating the state's progress visited Hawai'i earlier this month. They've had discussions with state and federal lawyers as well as Health Department officials and will submit their findings to federal Magistrate Kevin Chang.

Chang is expected to issue a report next month.

Health Director Chiyome Fukino yesterday said they've been talking to Hester and she never accepted his resignation.

"There has been no change in his current responsibility," she said.

Hester said he will continue to "actively work" on the community mental health plan as well as his other duties.

Lingle's spokesman Russell Pang referred questions about Hester to comments she made on a weekly appearance on KHVH radio show yesterday morning.

The governor praised Hester's work in improving mental health services and said the issue involves the federal court trying to "insert" itself into the department's mental health division.

She indicated they'll try to seek clarification of the relationship between the courts and mental health officials.

Hester's meeting with the governor and his comments that he is putting off his resignation follow a hearing Tuesday by the House Health Committee that tried to determine why Hester and two other state mental health officials were leaving.

More than 20 people, including representatives of groups providing services to the mentally ill and individuals who have mental illnesses, expressed strong support for Hester.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.