The State's Largest Provider of Community Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Services Seeks a [View all]

The State’s Largest Provider of Community Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Services Seeks a Bailout


More than 18,000 Oregonians depend on Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare for treatment of serious mental illness and addiction, conditions that for many have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Portland nonprofit employs nearly 1,000 workers and provides services at 75 facilities, ranging from walk-in crisis centers to supportive housing for more than 700 clients, including at its new 52-unit Garlington Center apartments on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Kevin Fitts is executive director of the Oregon Mental Health Consumers Association and a former Cascadia client. He says the state's largest community mental health care provider is "too big to fail."

Records show it's in danger.

In a Jan. 15 letter to the Oregon Health Authority that WW obtained through a public records request, Cascadia CEO Dr. Derald Walker asked state officials for an immediate, $4 million bailout.

Read more: https://www.wweek.com/news/2021/02/03/the-states-largest-provider-of-community-mental-health-and-addiction-treatment-services-seeks-a-bailout/
(Williamette Week)