The West Virginia Department of Heath and Human Resources will reportedly gain 400 detox beds by the end of the year, Bill Crouch, cabinet secretary of the WV DHHR said.
The Cabinet Secretary addressed the Senate Finance Committee to update the committee about the department while also presenting their fiscal year 2020 budget request.
Crouch said that the DHHR’s addition of detox treatment beds are intended to help aid in the rehabilitation process used to battle the state’s opioid crisis. The addition would put the total amount of detox treatment beds within the state at 900.
Committee members were also introduced to a new treatment plan which is being planned by the DHHR. Crouch explained that the new treatment process would be unlike anything that’s currently being used and will begin helping individuals plan for life following discharge from treatment once they enter treatment facilities.
“What we did to fight this problem two years ago won’t work today,” Crouch said,
In order to aid individuals in treatment, Crouch said that transition agents will also be put into place to help an individual create a plan for reentering the workforce. In addition to a transition agent, Crouch said that support services will be offered during and after an individuals treatment.
“We have to be prepared to pick up where an individual has left off so we can get them into productive life,” Crouch said. “This is an approach that no other state is using.”
Crouch also discussed the state’s current child welfare crisis which he said is a direct result of the opioid crisis.
“We’ve got to tackle the drug problem to get a better handle on the child welfare problem,” Crouch said.
As a way to tackle the issues, Crouch explained that the department has recently added over 50 Child Protective Services workers by asking existing DHHR workers to become CPS workers and placed in a community.
“CPS workers are the foundation of our child welfare system, but we need more,” Crouch said.
Along with the addition of more CPS workers, the DHHR is setting aside a large portion of their budget to help battle the child welfare issues according to Jeremiah Samples, deputy secretary of state at the Department of Health and Human Resources. Other areas featured within the budget include, … and ….
Sen. William Ihlenfeld, D- Ohio, addressed Samples to ask if additional money in areas of the budget could go towards sexual assault prevention. Currently, prevention for sexual assault receives $125,000 of the DHHR’s budget.
“If there is any way we could put more money into assault prevention it would be money well spent,” Ihlenfeld said. “The rape crisis centers are operating on crumbs.”
Samples explained that over the past six years, the DHHR’s budget cuts have resulted in a total of $321,080,767.
In total for fiscal year 2020, the DHHR is currently requesting $2,123,487,552.
