Dr. Carl Bell waited on his patients today outside of his closed Southside Community Mental Health Council
CAPTION: Dr. Carl C. Bell Wednesday waited patiently outside of his closed South Side Community Mental Health Council that after 37-years was officially shutdown today by the State of Illinois. (Photo by Chinta Strausberg)
Dr. Bell waits for patients outside of building closed by State of Illinois State’s “promises made, promises broken, how could the state do this to these people”?
By Chinta Strausberg
Armed with some files, his laptop and a prescription pad, internationally acclaimed black psychiatrist Dr. Carl C. Bell Wednesday sat in a chair waiting for his scheduled patients to arrive some of whom don’t know the State of Illinois has shutdown the 37-year-old South Side Community Mental Health Council that has worked closely with state officials as late as this May. Squinting his eyes at the blazing sunlight, Dr. Bell sat in a chair and patiently waited for his patients to arrive. He had a tent inside of his car but wanted to be more accessible to his patients who had not heard the bad news.
“I am scared that these seven people will show up looking for their medicine,” said Bell. “A lot of these people don’t go out of the house. They don’t watch news. They are kind of shut in.” Bell was expecting 18 patients including 5 new patients who were transferred from one of his co-workers. He was able to call six of the 18 and said hopefully they won’t come but they may need more medicine. “People think I keep my word and keep my promises,” said Bell. “I will try it for a week or two. If people come, I will be here until the last person on September 17th is taking care of. I do not know how the state could do this. I don’t understand. I don’t know how the state can work with us for 37-years and we were extraordinarily good partners with them and then drop us like a bad habit. Maybe they have a different way of doing business, but you don’t do that to people.
“They kept telling us that they wanted us to stay open and that was as late as May,” said Bell. Told that sources claim there is an outside audit that may show some fiscal mismanagement with patient funds, Bell, who has already confirmed that the state audit “came back clean,” said, “I obviously don’t know. For the last two-years, they (the State of Illinois) have been paying us slowly. We’ve been paying staff slowly so we’ve been losing staff slowly but surely and some of those people were fiscal people. “If you don’t have people in place to have a good accounting, I have no idea what’s going on. I have no idea where the money is. I know we have some money in the bank but that’s on hold because we owe somebody and they put a stop to that. I know nobody is stealing any money. I know that. I know we spent every penny on patient care to keep the business going,” said Bell.
“I don’t know how there could have been an outside audit because we don’t have any numbers. We don’t know. I got a Department of Labor claim from one of the employees. I don’t know how much money the Council owes me. I do know it’s a lot of money, but I don’t know how many paychecks they (the staff) has been paid because nobody knows.” While Senator Donne Trotter (D-17th) says Dr. Bell and his supporters should fight for the health center to be reopened, Bell said he needs a three-month bridge funding to close out the organization in a respectable way. This is a valuable piece of property. Somebody can use it.”
When asked if the property may be the issue because of its value, Bell said, “I have no idea what’s behind this. They (the state) said they were out of money. I get that; so I believe them. Why should they lie? I don’t think people wake up in the morning and say ‘I’m going to do somebody harm.’” “I do know I have a responsibility to these patients and I am going to take care of that responsibility because it’s not fair and I went to Meharry,” he said referring to Meharry Medical College in Tennessee. “They taught me to practice medicine and to carry out my absolute responsibility to patients who were under my care and you did it with nothing.
“The city of Nashville received a large chunk of money from the federal government to take care of indigent patients and the city of Nashville took every single penny of it for their Metro Hospital and did not give Meharry one red cent. Meharry took care of half of every poor person in the city of Nashville and never got paid.” When asked when did he last receive a paycheck, Dr. Bell said it was back in March of this year and that they tried to pay the line staff (like the receptionist, case managers, support staff) first. “They got paid more checks than we did.”
Asked what is he going to do about the unemployment and Labor Department claims that have been filed against the Council, Bell said he didn’t know. “I know the state owes us money. I have no idea what’s going on, none. I don’t know if the state is holding unto that money…to cover the Department of Labor claims.” “Everything dies, but this need not have died,” said Bell. “Nobody understands the not-for-profit business and how hard it is. The State of Illinois does not give businesses like this any money for capital improvement or stuff that you need. They just give you money for services which is a good thing, but if you need 2012 software, they don’t give you money for that. Your board is suppose to raise money for that.” Just then a patient walked up, looked at Dr. Bell sitting in his chair then read the closure notice taped to the door of the building. This writer left so as not to violate patient/doctor confidentiality. Bell said he would be there for his patients until at least September 17th when his last patient is scheduled.
When contacted, Gov. Pat Quinn issued the following statement. “Over the past several years, the Department of Human Services (DHS) Division of Mental Health has advanced millions of dollars to Community Mental Health Council (CMHC) in an effort to ensure continuity of care for consumers and to give the company an opportunity to improve its fiscal situation. “In addition, DMH provided more than two years of educational assistance regarding financial and program reporting requirements. To date, CMHC has made no effort to repay the state and has consistently shown an inability to meet its contractual obligations. “CMHC continues to experience serious fiscal mismanagement and eventual insolvency - they have not made payroll in many months, cancelled health insurance for employees and their families, and have been the subject of mounting complaints to the Illinois Department of Labor. “Therefore, DMH was unable to renew CMHC’s contract for fiscal year 2013. We have a number of area providers already in place to support CMHC consumers with their mental health needs and are currently in discussions with others.”
However, Dr. Bell has repeatedly said the Council has not been paid by the state since March and that for the past two-years the state has been slow in paying causing him to lose valuable people including those in charge of the finances. Bell said as late as May state officials said they wanted to continue doing business with the Council, which is why he computerized the patient’s records. He has received one complaint from the Department of Labor, but without access to the records he does not know how much state owes anyone including himself. Bell has not been paid since March and continues to use his funds to take care of patients he now sees in front of the building entrance. ###
CHINTA STRAUSBERG
chintabernie@aol.com
https://theblacklist.net/
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