mentally ill

Mental illness can affect any person or family. For those individuals in El Dorado County with the most severe forms of mental illness, the Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) program (also known as the “Laura’s Law” program) is available. The program, coordinated through the El Dorado County Behavioral Health Division of the Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA), gives additional tools to families, agencies and individuals to help people who need mental health treatment receive those services.

MEYERS and SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The El Dorado County Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Don Ashton has been making the rounds to communities throughout the county, explaining the budget through an informative presentation and discussion.

Most of the communities Ashton has visited have had 15-20 citizens in attendance, all asking questions and giving input in the budget process as Ashton and the Supervisors figure out how to save $20M over the next four years to meet CalPers pension liabilities.

A year ago, the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors signed a resolution to participate in the Stepping Up initiative. The initiative, signed by two hundred fifty counties, has one lofty goal: reduce the number of adults with mental illness in the criminal justice system.

What has changed in the last year?

Dozens of runners and walkers, including Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, took to the streets of the capital city early Sunday for a remembrance run to recognize the victims of the Sept. 6, 2011 shooting at the IHOP in Carson City.

Four years ago Sunday, Nevada Guardsmen Lt. Col. Heath Kelly, 35, Master Sgt. Christian Riege, 38, Sgt. 1st Class Miranda McElhiney, 31, and civilian Florence Donovan-Gunderson, 67, of South Lake Tahoe, were killed in the shooting rampage, in which the mentally ill gunman took his own life. Two other soldiers and seven patrons suffered injuries.

Up until the 1970s and 80s, people with severe mental illness were housed in institutions by the hundreds of thousands. Replacing long-stay psychiatric hospitals with less isolated community mental health services became the norm, and it created a whole new set of issues.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval joined more than two dozen soldiers and airman, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and families Saturday to pay respects by jogging in a memorial run in Carson City to commemorate the four victims who died at the International House of Pancakes shooting on Sept. 6, 2011.

Shooting survivor Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Mock and Gen. Michael Hanifan, commander of the Nevada Guard, led the pack of runners and walkers on the 5K route from the restaurant to the Guard complex on Fairview Drive in Carson City.

With hundreds of new laws every year for the past 45 years, one might wonder if anyone knows them all or can keep track of the changes. There are new laws on the books for both California (800 new laws) and Nevada (45 new laws) that Lake Tahoe residents might want to brush up on.

Here is an overview of some of them:

California

El Dorado County Sheriff's Department Captain Randy Pershon has been appointed to the Judicial Council Collaborative Justice Courts Advisory Committee. This committee makes recommendations improving the processing of cases in drug courts, domestic violence courts, peer courts, and other community-based treatment courts. They also propose rules, standards, and forms; reviews and recommends legislation; identifies potential funding sources; oversees the treatment court grant process; and acts on assignments referred to it by the Judicial Council.

Nevada National Guard members plan to pause for a moment of silence at 2 p.m. Thursday to remember those who died a year ago during the mass shooting at a Carson City IHOP.
The victims who died in the attack are Florence Donovan-Gunderson, 67, of South Lake Tahoe; Sgt. 1st Class Christian Riege, 38; Lt. Col. Heath Austin Kelly, 35; and Sgt. 1st Class Miranda Summerwind McElhiney, 31.
“All Nevada Guardsmen are being asked to take a minute, stop what you’re doing and think about those we lost,” Maj. April Conway told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

A Special "Thank You!" to the following businesses in South Lake Tahoe for their support and financial contribution to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), (Benefiting local individua...