LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Mental health debacle now being covered up
“BUT, IT’S not true!” I must have repeated those words hundreds of times in 2013. That was when the state Human Services Department closed Southwest Counseling Center of Las Cruces, in addition to 14 other mental health agencies in the state, and said we were billing fraudulently.
A comparable situation one could imagine would be the IRS coming to your door and saying you owe $2.8 million. It won’t tell you why or how it arrived at the number so you are unable to defend yourself. Then it proceeds to close your business down, take everything you own and slander your name. And you are unable to defend yourself. You cannot find a job in the state or in your profession. And again, you are unable to defend yourself. Then after four years it quietly says, “Never mind. You owe us $484.87.”
Although the injustice that I and countless employees suffered was immense, it pales in comparison to the damage done to the patients affected by this unnecessary turmoil and disruption of mental health services in New Mexico. Whether from suicide, accidental overdose or other causes, some patients lost their lives. Some patients were traumatized and hospitalized as their mental health worsened, and some were jailed. The damage has been irreparable. Even if one accepts that the actions by the (Gov. Susana) Martinez administration’s HSD began from incompetence, it soon, I believe, turned into a conscious, deliberate and illegal cover-up. This apparent cover-up begs for an investigation.
I know that the Martinez administration wanted us to go away quietly, and it might have happened had it not been for the many political champions. Chief among them are Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, and U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M. I cannot thank them enough for keeping the issue front and center for all these years. It is my most sincere hope that the answers surrounding how this catastrophe occurred continue to be sought.
ROQUE GARCIA CEO Southwest Counseling Center Inc. Las Cruces