Leaders named for mental health effort
By Kim Fassler
Advertiser Staff Writer
An educator and a family- practice physician will head a working group that will determine how to use an $11 million federal grant for Hawai'i's mental health system.
Gov. Linda Lingle appointed Dr. Rupert Goetz and Sharlene Chun-Lum as co-leaders of the Mental Health Transformation Working Group. The group will implement a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded to Hawai'i.
The state will receive more than $2 million per year over the next five years.
"I don't believe we'll have this kind of opportunity again in any field," Lingle said. "This is our chance. We have the money, we have the leadership team. ... All the pieces are there for us to achieve success."
The money will help state officials organize and coordinate a system that has come under scrutiny in recent years. An estimated 11,000 adult residents suffer from severe mental illness in Hawai'i.
After being ranked 51st in the nation — after Puerto Rico — for its mental health services in 1996, the state rose to 11th place last year.
The grant was awarded to Hawai'i near the end of a 15-year period in which federal courts oversaw the state's community mental health plan.
Goetz, who trained as a family-practice physician and community psychiatrist, most recently served as medical director of the Hawai'i State Hospital, where he helped the facility emerge from the Department of Justice litigation.
"This is a lifetime opportunity for the state and a lifetime experience for me," Goetz said at the news conference.
Most recently, Chun-Lum served as director of The Kamehameha Schools' Ho'olako Like Department, which provides funding, training and advocacy for Hawaiian-focused charter schools.
"What enticed me to come to this job is that this is something that will help the whole state," Chun-Lum said.
The working group's first task will be to develop a comprehensive statewide mental health plan.
It will start by completing a statewide mental health inventory of resources and a statewide mental health needs assessment.
The group is accepting nominations from others who want to join. Resumes and a letter outlining the applicant's area of interest may be sent to transformation@doh.hawaii.gov. Subgroups also will be created to assure broad input from all stakeholders.
