State budget cuts hit hard at local agencies
By Susan S. Stevens
Decades ago, drunks in the gutter along Madison and neighboring West Loop streets were a common sight. Today, such occurrences are rare, due in large part to Haymarket Center, the Chicago area’s largest substance abuse treatment facility.
When an alcoholic decides to quit booze or an addict swears off drugs, the first major step toward staying sober or clean is detoxification, which frequently involves treatment with medications such as tranquilizers in a controlled setting. Haymarket Center has helped many people detox by keeping its doors wide open for 31 years—but not any more.
Governor Rod Blagojevich vetoed $43 million for substance abuse treatment and recovery, a move that cost Haymarket $4 million, or 20% of its annual budget.
The social service agency at 932 W. Washington St. began limiting its intake August 1. Before that, about 100 people arrived on an average day, brought by police, paramedics, families, and friends. In the first 24 hours, the substance abuse treatment center turned away 140 people who sought admission. Some of its patients were forced to leave the following day.
“We are definitely not closed,” said Haymarket President and CEO Raymond F. Souchek. Yet not everyone can be admitted; for instance, 12 to 15 people at a time undergo detox rather than the 24 patients previously accommodated.
“Since these cuts affect all agencies in this field, those we turn away will either go to [John H.] Stroger Hospital or will be returned to the streets,” Soucek said.
Stroger, however, does not have a detoxification unit and has referred those chemical abusers to Haymarket, said Marcel Bright, director of public relations at Stroger, Cook County's main public hospital. As a result, alcoholics and addicts have to wait for help.
Many programs affected
More than detox is affected at Haymarket, which helps its clients through recovery and rehabilitation programs, assisting them in finding homes and jobs, and even offering day care for children of women in the programs.
In addition to cutting 30 regular detoxification beds and six medical detox beds, Haymarket had to cut half its recovery home beds, 140 treatment beds, and 16 beds for family-based services and rapid stabilization treatment for women.
The Salvation Army, historically known for encouraging sobriety, is not the answer for addicts in crisis, either. “We don’t do detox,” said Captain Nancy Powers at the Salvation Army’s Harbor Light facility at 1550 W. Monroe St., which provides follow-up care for recovering alcoholics and abusers. It, too, has relied on Haymarket.
Sending people to Stroger, even if it had a detox unit, is not something Powers would want to do. “They are scrambling themselves,” she said, noting Stroger must handle many crises with limited resources.
“You’ve got to get them while the iron is hot,” Powers said. Otherwise, alcohol and drug abusers head back to the streets, their addictions intact. A waiting list of more than 200 at Haymarket before the cuts is growing.
When the Salvation Army does send a person in need of medical care to Stroger, the patient may have to wait up to 24 hours in the emergency room before treatment.
Follow-up funds cut, too
Once the detox process is over, Haymarket, the Salvation Army, and other not-for-profits provide follow-up treatment. Yet those funds also are affected.
“The state is trying to scramble,” Powers said, noting state funds to the Harbor Light facility were cut 11%, or $117,000.
“We are not hiring for three positions, and we may have to let a fourth go,” she said, noting one person is doing one-and-a-half jobs.
Haymarket expects to furlough 9% to 13% of its workforce, which had been 460 people.
At Stroger, the public affairs director said current hospital services are secure for the time being. “So far, no types of cutbacks are planned,” Bright said. “I cannot comment on what happens with next year’s budget.”
Haymarket may be the biggest but it is not the only detoxification center affected. For example, Family Guidance has stopped renting a section containing 16 beds at the Chicago Christian Industrial League (CCIL). CCIL’s direct services were not reduced.
“To see these people who were really working hard to change their lives locked out and back on the street” saddened CCIL Executive Director Judy McIntyre. “We are still fighting a war in Iraq that costs an unbelievable amount more."
“The state is going to be in a very difficult situation,” Powers said. “They are going to pay for it on the other end—increases in crime, prison populations, and homelessness.”
Soucek agreed: “We can predict safely that drug addicts denied treatment will continue using—and will continue supporting their habits—any way possible, resorting to crime if they find it necessary in order to buy drugs.”
Cuts affect poorest, neediest
“Once more, the poorest and neediest segment of our society, a segment least able to help itself, is the victim of the political mess in Springfield—making it more important than ever that the state Senate reconvene, as the Illinois House has done, to act on remedying the damage done by the governor’s line item vetoes,” Soucek said.
Anthony Cole, Haymarket’s vice president of government relations, did not expect the state to restore the funding. Cole said, “Senate leaders say there is no sense in considering a restoration motion because the House failed to provide a revenue source for the restoration.” He feels the only hope lies in November, when the Illinois General Assembly is scheduled to consider all of Blagojevich’s vetoes and revenue sources to pay the bills.
The state cuts will be reflected in federal cuts, Cole said, making Illinois ineligible to receive a matching $43 million federal bloc grant for use in substance abuse programs all over the state.
In Springfield, Tom Green, an Illinois Department of Human Services spokesperson, said nothing was certain. “We are still reviewing the budget and what it will be for the next fiscal year,” he said. “We are still trying.”
