WAI'ANAE — The governor has been asked to intervene on behalf of a Wai'anae mental health agency that fears dire consequences for its severely mentally disabled patients if a state contract is terminated at the end of the month as planned.

A petition with 565 signatures has been sent to Gov. Linda Lingle and state lawmakers as well as the Department of Health that has ordered the changes.

Petitioners want the service contract to be extended for three months to give the governor time to review the decision and give Hale Na'au Pono, the coast's largest provider of mental health services, time to transition the more than 350 affected patients.

Early this month the facility, the state's only private, nonprofit mental health provider, learned that the state would not extend its contract for Community Based Case Management services — a national protocol that uses case managers to act on behalf of clients in choosing the proper treatment.

The state recently said it would employ the CBCM protocol for all its severely disabled mental patients, and, by the end of August, move away from a previously used team-based approach known as Assertive Community Treatment.

Poka Laenui, executive director of Hale Na'au Pono, said yesterday his facility will lose its ACT funds like the other eight mental health treatment centers in the state. But he said he has never been told by the state why the facility's $1.3 million CBCM contract had not been renewed. He said he worries about the affected patients as well as the more than three dozen case workers who could join the ranks of the unemployed by July.

"I know some of these people will go homeless," said Laenui. "I know what the conditions are out here, and it's not going to be pretty for many of them. I'm really hard-pressed to know what I am going to do for them as well."

The irony was not lost on Lynn Johnson, a certified peer specialist at the facility who, like his colleagues, said he has no idea what his fate will be after the end of the month.

"Isn't it funny that they'd cut the program over here when this is the part of the Island that has the largest homeless and unemployed population?" Johnson said.

Meanwhile, state Rep. Maile Shimabukuro, D-45th (Wai'anae, Makaha, Makua) said it would be a mistake to terminate the program at the region's established mental health center, which has been providing services in Wai'anae since the 1980s.

"Hale Na'au Pono fills a critical role for so many clients here," said Shimabukuro. "They know the people, they're from this place, the workers are from here, and they understand what's going on.

"It would just be tragic to lose a provider that's been so committed to this community."

Given the problems the Wai'anae Coast has had with people diagnosed with substance abuse and mental health disorders, the outcome could have a huge effect on the area, she said.

John Hauoli, 46, isn't sure what it's going to mean for him.

Hauoli, who was born and raised in Makaha, said he began hearing "bad voices" in the early 1990s. At first he thought his co-workers at an Island moving company were speaking to him behind his back. So he got earplugs. But that only made matters worse. To seek relief, he became a substance abuser, which only escalated his problems, he said.

Hauoli finally got help when he was referred to Hale Na'au Pono. Like other clients, he said the facility has helped him learn to deal with his difficulties.

"I'm just worried right now who's going to be seeing me," he said. "None of us know what's going to happen, really. Because we're used to the case manager we have. Sometimes, like when I get bad voices and like that, I just call my case manager at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning and he comes over."

The state is not required to give a reason when it terminates a contract, according to DOH officials.

However, Shimabukuro, who has sat in on meetings between Hale Na'au Pono and the Health Department, said part of the reason is the state has questioned the credentials of some health center personnel, such as unlicensed social workers.

It's a problem that has plagued the Wai'anae Coast for years, she said — the difficulty in attracting and keeping qualified professionals.

But she said the state should make allowances for mental health service providers on the coast, as it has done for teachers, dentists, nurses and other professionals due to shortages.

Shimabukuro favors the petition request and believes the two sides could reach a compromise given more time.

But that remains in doubt. Dr. Chiyome Fukino, state DOH director, said yesterday that she has received the petition, but is convinced the transition from Hale Na'au Pono to the state's new Adult Mental Health facility in Makaha can be done in the time allotted.

The department "is in the process of referring all of these consumers to other case management providers, and at least one-third are expected to be served by the DOH through our Makaha satellite office," she said.

"The DOH has taken considerable time to resolve ongoing contract disputes with (Hale Na'au Pono). We've worked with them for years on a number of issues. Unfortunately, the state has been forced to make this difficult decision."