Why is this important?
How we care for some of our most vulnerable residents: children,
adults and seniors with acute or chronic mental health disorders,
reflects on the health and safety of our community. The newer psychotropic
medications, treatment interventions, and community support, enable
many of these residents to participate in the life of the community.
What is the measure?
The number of hospitalizations, bed days and placements in long-term
settings of our citizens with acute and/or chronic mental health
conditions are significant indicators of the effectiveness of the
prevention and intervention systems established in our county.
Increases or decreases in these numbers alert all the collaborating
agencies and services to important changes in the safety and quality
of life for people with mental disorders. The percentage of clients
seen in outpatient mental health and the prevalence rate of citizens
of Tuolumne County with a mental illness were also measured to see
how well mental health services are being utilized.
How are we doing?
This snapshot indicates that Tuolumne County has a stable rate
for adults hospitalized in the county for the last three fiscal
years with a decrease in the number of days residents are remaining
in the hospital.
The number of permanent conservatorships per 10,000 population
increased.
The data also show that we are only seeing a
small percentage of the citizens with serious mental illness when
compared to the standardized expected prevalence rates of 9.0%. |
