An agreement for Mental Health Patient Advocacy with Des Moines County and participating counties was on the Supervisors agenda for their Tuesday meeting. 

Supervisor Jack Seward Jr. shared the memorandum and gave an explanation on what it means for Washington County, “This is one of the final things that we have to take care of as the state is transitioning Mental Health and Disability Service work from regions to the ASO Administrative Service Organization. The state law that was passed to do that, left out any mention of the advocates for citizens that are court committed to an institution. There has always been an advocate. That is a third party that looks after these individuals who are committed. In order to make sure that they don’t fall through the cracks and end up in some place that they don’t need to be.” 

The other counties that are a part of the agreement include Henry, Jefferson, Lee, Louisa, Van Buren and Keokuk. The agreement between the counties will cover the cost of the mental health advocate. Seward went on to say that the State pays the advocate when the work is done, but if the state would deny the payment, the county where the citizen resides would cover the cost. The Supervisors approved the memorandum unanimously.