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SF supervisors grill health dept. on 400 mental health treatment beds promised in 2021

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SF supervisors grill health dept. on 400 mental health treatment beds promised in 2021


SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The San Francisco Board of Supervisors budget and finance committee on Wednesday questioned the health department on the effectiveness of their planned treatment bed expansion plan.

For two hours, San Francisco supervisors questioned the city’s public health department for two hours mostly asking where the treatment beds were.

“It sounds like for most of the beds for people with severe behavioral health needs – those are ‘as needed’ beds and we have no idea. In school they talk about butts in seats. We have no idea based on the numbers we are looking at today, how many San Franciscans with several health needs are in those ‘as needed’ beds?,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman during the budget and finance committee on Wednesday.

In 2021, San Francisco announced a plan to add 400 new treatment beds for mental health and addiction treatment. On Wednesday, the city’s health department said they expansion has led to a total of 2,550 treatment beds, but Supervisor Mandelman said their numbers may not be accurate.

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“They had a plan to add 400 additional beds. They believed and they are telling us that they are close to having added those beds but they have some key foot notes that are concerning to us. One is 15-20% of those beds may be unavailable because of staffing challenges,” said Supervisor Mandelman.

MORE: SF to implement state’s CARE Court program to treat severe mental health disorders

The public health department said the staffing shortage is part of a nationwide staffing crisis for mental health professionals.

“In terms of the intersection between impact of staffing on ‘as needed’ beds – we don’t know that. Meaning we apply for a placement. The facility accepts or doesn’t accept and we don’t track if they are not accepting,” said Hillary Kunins, director of San Francisco’s Behavioral Health Services during the meeting.

When it comes to getting treatment beds San Francisco competes with other counties for access.

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“Particularly for the highest levels of beds the competition is fierce. We have never replaced the state mental health hospitals that have been closed. There are these private facilities that are sort of providing but there are not nearly enough beds for the needs of all the counties, and San Francisco has a lot of need,” said Supervisor Mandelman.

The Salvation Army’s Harbor Light Center has 136 beds. The city funds 65 of those beds. They are urging the public health department to pay for more treatment beds within the city.

MORE: Why accessing drug addiction treatment is so hard in San Francisco

“We have basically 50 to 60 beds open that the city can purchase today,” said Adrian Maldonado, director of the Salvation Army’s detox facility, called the Harbor Light Center.

Luz Pena: “You are saying they are empty?”

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Adrian Maldonado: “They are empty. If they chose to do thatm we can then fill up harbor light. If people stop using dope, they are not in crisis in the street. They don’t go to the emergency room. They don’t have the police coming to arrest them.”

Supervisor Mandelman wants the city to change its plan for treatment beds

“I think we need to own more of those buildings ourselves and if we have excess we share them with other counties,” said Supervisor Mandelman.

MORE: Will Prop. 1 help solve CA homelessness? Experts weigh in on $6B bond for mental health facilities

The need for treatment beds in San Francisco is climbing and according to experts mental illness among the unhoused population across California is as high as 80%.

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“I talk to my colleagues across the country and we are seeing really substantial demand for resources that include medical but go well beyond medical particularly those who are experiencing homelessness. Those who are experiencing behavioral issues and even more so perhaps when they overlap,” said Dr. Christopher Colwell, chief of Emergency Medicine at Zuckerberg SF General Hospital.

After Wednesday ‘s committee meeting, supervisors are planning to request a follow up with the department of public health for more clarity.

We asked the San Francisco Public Health Department how many beds are “empty.” In an email, they said:

“To view bed capacity and availability for someone seeking substance use or mental health treatment, please visit at: https://findtreatment-sf.org/.

The majority of beds are utilized. However, Behavioral Health staffing challenges are a federal, state, and local issue and we know that staffing has intermittent impacts on service availability. However, we have seen increases in clients served in our bed expansion in a number of areas including substance use disorder residential, substance use disorder residential step-down, and in withdrawal management, psychiatric respite, drug sobering programs and facilities.”

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In their presentation, the health department broke down the bed expansion:

Additional bed expansion projects in progress include:

– Additional Enhanced Dual Diagnosis (18 beds)

– Transition-Age Youth Residential (10 beds)

– Crisis Diversion (16 beds)

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– Dual Diagnosis Women’s Therapeutic Residence for Justice-Involved

– Women (33 beds)

– SUD Stabilization (20 beds)

– Other projects pending approval of Behavioral Health Bridge Housing spending plan”

If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live

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San Francisco, CA

San Francisco Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie holds interfaith ceremony before inauguration

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San Francisco Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie holds interfaith ceremony before inauguration


Kelsi Thorud reports on an interfaith unity ceremony held by San Francisco Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie. Website: http://kpix.com/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/CBSSanFrancisco Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CBSSanFrancisco Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kpixtv/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KPIXtv





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San Francisco reports lowest crime rate in more than 20 years

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San Francisco reports lowest crime rate in more than 20 years


San Francisco’s outgoing mayor is touting a drop in crime on her last full day in office. As the city prepares to transition from one mayor to another, crime is front and center.

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The latest data shows crime is on the decline in San Francisco. The mayor and chief of police said property crime is down 31% from 2023, and violent crime is down 14%.

On her final full day in office, Mayor London Breed said it’s the result of hard work on several fronts. The mayor said a strong district attorney, new state and local laws and the adoption of new technology, have all contributed to the lowest crime rate since 2001. 

“We have what we need to be a successful city and I feel strongly and proud that I laid the groundwork for what happened in 2024,” said Mayor Breed. “It’s only going to get better.”

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy watchdog in the digital and technological space, warned that “There is no magic “tipping point” the SFPD can hit in which more and more surveillance will suddenly be the primary reason for safer streets—the opposite is true. The more surveillance there is, the more vulnerable communities will feel the negative impacts of heavy-handed policing.”

San Francisco’s Police Chief Bill Scott said a focused approach to catching and convicting repeat offenders and adopting new technology played roles in reducing the crime rate. “Once we got that equipment in our arsenal of tools, drones and helicopters, they became even more effective,” said Chief Scott. “We’re seeing more arrests, we’re seeing more arrests on people that are prolific.”

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The latest data comes as the city prepares for a new mayor to lead the city. Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie met with officers in Chinatown to listen to their concerns. He acknowledged the decrease in crime, but said there is still work to be done. “It’s incredibly hopeful,” said Lurie. “We have to continue to do our work. I’ve commended them on those crime stats going down, want to continue to see improvements there.”

Specifically, the mayor-elect said he wanted to see increased focus on the fentanyl epidemic and maintain the focus on public safety and said he will share more details on his plans on Wednesday. 

 

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San Francisco Giants Outfielder Primed for Improvement After Solid 2024 Season

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San Francisco Giants Outfielder Primed for Improvement After Solid 2024 Season


With the San Francisco Giants’ first pick of the 2017 MLB draft, the club selected Heliot Ramos out of Leadership Christian Academy in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

Ramos would spend the next five years in the franchise’s minor league system, with many outlets ranking the outfielder as a top-100 prospect throughout before making his Major League debut on April 10, 2022. The young star would be optioned and recalled multiple times throughout the year, and see only 22 plate appearances at the MLB level.

After spending time at the Major League level in the first month of 2023, Ramos would once again be optioned to Triple-A, where he would succumb to injury less than three weeks later. A right oblique strain would see the outfielder sidelined for much of the year, again failing to eclipse 100 plate appearances at the top level of the sport, reaching only 65.

2024 would prove to be different. It served as the coming out party for Heliot Ramos. The outfielder was able to prove his ability with enough consistent playing time, hitting .269/.322/.469 with 22 home runs, 72 RBI, and a 125 OPS+ across 518 plate appearances while getting his first nod as a National League All-Star.

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Now 25 and with one full year of Major League experience under his belt, Ramos’s production at the plate could take another step forward in the coming year.

Baseball Savant shows that Ramos’s power was not just beginner’s luck, as the analytics have the outfielder in the 85th or better percentiles for each of xSLG (90th percentile), average exit velocity (85th), barrel rate (92nd), hard-hit rate (85th), and bat speed (90th).

While the power is there for Ramos, the outfielder has not shown the best plate discipline, with only 37 walks and a massive 135 strikeouts. His walk rate of 7.1 percent ranks in the 36th percentile while his strikeout rate of 26.1 percent ranks in the 23rd percentile.

Defensively, Ramos played all three outfield positions but saw the majority of his time in center field. It proved to be his worst of the three, however, with -7 Outs Above Average, while he posted positive one Outs Above Average in each of the corner outfield positions.

Ramos has already proven to be a solid cornerstone of the Giants’ offense with what he was able to accomplish at the plate in 2024. The coming campaign should see the outfielder take another step forward in his development, and could even see him cement himself as the key to the team’s success.

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