Bend Don't Break: Holly McCown Harris, Health Services Director for Deschutes County

In this episode of Bend Don’t Break, Aaron Switzer sits down with Holly McCown Harris, Health Services Director for Deschutes County, to explore the realities of providing public and behavioral health care in a rapidly growing region. Holly shares her journey from juvenile probation work in rural Texas to leading one of Central Oregon’s most essential health departments, and how crisis response, public health, and behavioral health intersect in ways the public often doesn’t see.

Together, they talk through the challenges of Medicaid uncertainty, the misconceptions around civil commitment, and the deep impact the housing crisis has on behavioral health. Holly offers a grounded look at what the county can do—and what it simply doesn’t have the authority or resources to solve alone.

They also lean into the hopeful side: long‑awaited residential treatment beds coming online, Central Oregon’s first child psychiatric facility, and how collaboration across agencies still sets this region apart. A thoughtful, candid conversation about resilience, policy, and what it takes to care for an entire community.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Ben Don't Break Podcast. We are powered by the Source, Ben's locally owned media company and weekly newspaper. This podcast is our eddy in the rushing waters of local journalism. We are glad that you're taking some of your time to listen to us chat with people who shape our local community. Support us through our member program at Bensource.com.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Thank you to our presenting sponsor, Remax Key Properties, a family-owned, full-service real estate brokerage specializing in residential, luxury, commercial, new construction, and ranch and land properties. Their new state-of-the-art facility at 42 Greenwood Avenue is a modern collaborative space and the new home of the Then Don't Break Podcast Recording Studio.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

I'm Aaron Sweitzer, uh producer of this fine podcast with our Megan Burton as well, uh co-producing and publisher of The Source. We have with us today Holly Harris. She is an MEDLPC. Did I get that right? Sure. And is the health service director for Deschutes County, which is really the important part. Overseeing both public and behavioral health, she moved to Oregon from Texas 15 years ago and has been with Deschutes County since 2013. Prior to her role as director, she was the manager over all crisis and forensic division services for nine years, including the Deschutes County Stabilization Center, and later the behavioral health director. She has focused on the intersection of the criminal justice and behavioral health system for most of her career while living in Texas, Texas. She was the director of juvenile probation for Wharton County and has worked in both rural and urban settings, serving children, adults, and families in both crisis and private practice setting. In addition, Holly has trained nationally on topics such as evidence-based practices, motivational interviewing, and risk assessments, and has been working in the behavioral health field for over 20 years. Thank you for being here, Holly.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

And I was reminded for those hardcore then don't break podcast viewers that Holly was one of the first interviews that we did because uh it was in 2020. We had just started the uh we had just started the podcast in 2020, and I'd started as a way to keep myself mentally active as everything was shutting down and closing. I think the stabilization center had just opened.

SPEAKER_03 2:22

I did.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

And uh so a a lot has changed. And I was joking that uh we all needed the stabilization center at that time.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

We did. It was very busy.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

So um yeah, it's great to have you back, and thanks for thanks for taking the time.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

Of course. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

And and also we apologize to all of our listeners for how long we have been gone. We this is after two months, we've uh we're returning. So thank you for welcoming back all of listeners. The holidays and illness and all it's crazy what can keep you from this stuff. Absolutely. So well, Holly, um, why don't you just start by um reminding viewers how you got here to Deschutes County? Uh I don't know Wharton County. I'm sure a city somewhere in there, but uh you know how how did you make manage to uh end up here in Little Old Deschutes?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

I know. It's uh yeah, I never thought in a million years I would end up living in Oregon. I'm a longtime Texan, born and raised there. Um had my career there, obviously overseeing of a juvenile probation department, and um, I'm a licensed professional counselor by trade. So uh did lots of private practice uh work and other stuff around behavioral health there. And then my sister lived up here in uh Bend. She worked for the Forest Service and then had babies. And then we were just coming up here all the time and really just couldn't stand it any longer. So I um had happened to have a job at the time that allowed me to work from anywhere. So I moved out here and my parents retired out here, and the rest is history.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

When what year was that that you were in?

SPEAKER_01 3:54

It was 20 August of 2012, is when we moved out. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

So you have a big role in your niece's.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Oh, yes, they were only four and two at the time, nephews. Yeah. And so and then I met my husband, and now I have a stepdaughter, and it's just, yeah, life is a this is my home now.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Yeah, that's great. Well, it sounds like you came into um the mental health field kind of from um the police side of things, or or from that just how did you make that transition? And I mean, even even now we can talk about this more fully. They're they're not separate. No. Um so how um what does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Yeah, I mean, I always thought I wanted to do traditional therapy, private practice, and so I did that right out of graduate school. Um, and then quickly discovered that uh that wasn't the track I wanted to be on and had an opportunity to oversee a juvenile probation department in a small town where I grew up. Yeah, um, in Morton County, which is small. Right. Um and it they were looking for.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Well, you must have had a personal relationship with some of those or known them.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And so, I mean, everybody knows everything. Everybody, yeah, that's absolutely so true. And so the opportunity became available, and and shockingly, in Texas at the time, they were actually trying to move away from a more punitive approach with juveniles um into more of a kind of restorative justice therapeutic approach. And so my background in behavioral health was enticing to them. So I came went into that field, not having a lot of experience um in the criminal justice side of things, but really came at it from a clinical perspective and fell in love with that intersection and realized that we had more in common than than we had didn't.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

Yeah. I'm surprised to hear that uh Texas was making those strides. And probably also in Wharton County, which again, my ignorance is showing.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

But well, no, it's true. It really was an interesting. I mean, it was more around juveniles than it was adults. Obviously, there was still a lot of um the kind of traditional approach with adults than, but with juveniles, they were kind of looking to really try to do something differently. Um, and it was being led out of Austin, which was a little bit more you know progressive in their thinking around that. And uh, and so it was a great opportunity and led me down a career of working in that field for uh six years.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

I think that was, I mean, I remember because we were reporting on it back in the day, there was a lot of break the cycle kind of stuff. I mean, that was kind of the initiative, as they had seen some stuff in early intervention with regard to education, and they were seeing the potential. If you could get to these juveniles early, you'd break the cycle.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Was that some of the it was a lot around social determinants of health, all of that, like you know, your experiences as a kid? If we can, yeah, if we can intervene, intervene in the generational trauma that's happening and set a different path forward, um, we see much better outcomes at the end of the day. I mean, we can keep investing in detention facilities and all of that, but it's much more expensive. If we can intervene sooner in a different way, we have better outcomes.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Have you been surprised um as you've been in this field and and starting in that path? I mean, it the as research has come out on you know, those determinants, how much the individual the parents play in that early development role and the the the lifestyle, early lifestyle that those kids have. Oh, absolutely. And the impact. I mean that's huge. It's so huge. Yeah. Um, I mean, and you know, nature versus nurture, and and you always think that, you know, they can, you know, kids are can grow out of those kind of environments. But it seems like increasingly, it's I wouldn't call it a little depressing, but it's it's very um solid how much of of who you are is set by the emotional interactions that you have at that age about what's going on in the home.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Absolutely. I mean, it's a critical component of it. It doesn't mean you can't, you know, come out of it on the other side. And um, you know, your your natural supports around you, there's other ways in which to navigate those uh unfortunate circumstances. But I think it's why programs like what we offer in public health, um, around, you know, uh a family connects program where you intervene early when a when a child is entering, an infant is entering into the home and giving providing the level of support to new parents who may be struggling with addiction, who may be struggling with just, you know, life and being a new parent, uh having some extra support to make sure that first part of that baby's life is successful.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Yeah. I mean, I could speak from experience. It's insane when they give you that baby.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

I mean, I think most families would say, like, boy, if I had somebody there to help me through those first couple of months for sure, it would have made a major difference.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

Yeah, I remember after the first hour, I I asked my wife, like, who's who's coming to get this? Someone else has got to have responsibility. It's not me. No, but they're not.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Yeah. And then imagine if you had uh, you know, lots of other stuff going on that you were trying to navigate.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

Sure. I mean, I remember when they were talking about shaking the baby and all that stuff, and I was like, I don't even understand what that means. Like, do they get shaken? Like what? I'm barely holding on to it. So you know. Um well, so then as you've trained, as you've uh came to Deschutes County, how did your role change from what you were doing down in Texas?

SPEAKER_01 9:04

It changed quite a bit because it was such a different environment in 2012 in terms of getting a job. Um I knew I wanted to work for the county because I have been uh a county employee for most of my career. I love working in local government. I think it's the best place you can make uh an effect change on the community in which you live. So I'm really a big proponent of it. So I was trying to get my foot in the door with the county and I could I just couldn't get an interview. I couldn't get my foot in the door, I didn't know anybody. So I took a part-time on-call position as a mobile crisis worker. Um so I went from being a director of juvenile probation and, you know, and to that. And I and I was like, gosh, am I making a mistake? What have I done? But I quickly realized it was the best decision I ever made. I fell in love with crisis services, I fell in love with working for the county, and it just ended up being this this step um into the right pathway for me that led to the next nine years overseeing crisis services and went from uh part-time on call to full-time employee to a supervisor to a manager, behavioral health director, and then somehow ended up in this role.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

As the um in your current role, maybe explain from I mean, people know the services, but I'm really would like to try to understand you as an individual, your day-to-day in terms of managing something like this.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Yeah, so it's an interesting role. So my prior role was I oversaw all behavioral health services. And we also have my counterpart um oversees all of public health services.

SPEAKER_03 10:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

So my role oversees both public health and behavioral health. So oversees the health department, which is comprised of, like I said, public health, behavioral health. It's also intellectual and developmental disabilities.

SPEAKER_03 10:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

And we have also an entire admin services division that supports the day-to-day, keeps the wheels on the bus, um, you know, type of operation. So that's my job is to really set policy for the department, work with elected officials, you know, keep track of legislation, budgets, you know, really high level for the entire health department.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Yeah. May what maybe just dive a little deep into behavioral services. What are the type of services that you offer at the county level?

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Yeah. So at the county level, we're primary. So we're a safety net provider. So it means we're gonna be there when no one else is. Yeah. Um, so the types of services we provide are generally like crisis services, people who are involved in the criminal justice system, people who have a significant mental health or substance use disorder, like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, PTSD. Um, so so there's you know, there's a range of mental health conditions. There's anything from mild depression to the things I just described. So there are a lot of providers in our community that can do the traditional behavioral health treatment for depression, anxiety, things like that. What we offer is that intensive wraparound support to um to really the people who are most vulnerable and really can't get served anywhere else. Right. And so we serve any, you know, the youngest you know, little babies, three, four, five years old, all the way to older adults, um, and the everything in between. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

It's never something I think you can quantify, but you know, in terms of the number who n people who need services, you know, and and it's it's a it's a cloudy definition of of who need who needs services. But um as you try to provide this safety net, I mean, I can only imagine how big that net is compared to what it needs to be. And how you how do you evaluate what's being done in private practice versus what you guys can offer and what's out there that you don't might not even know about?

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Yeah, this is that it is a challenge, especially as we're growing.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

I think it was a little uh a little easier when we were a smaller community and we knew all of the players. I will say we are still unique in that way, though, that our partnerships and our collaborations in this county are stronger than most places I've ever seen. Um, so we still kind of operate a little bit like a small county, um, and that we do generally know most of the providers. Every now and then there's a new one that comes in that takes a minute to get to be known. But we work very closely with a lot of the key providers, the the bigger private practice agencies, even the one one-person shops, plus Mosaic and St. Charles and some of the big providers, um, we work in tandem and we are always in communication throughout the week um regularly.

SPEAKER_02 13:28

And and from your vantage point, as you're looking out and the community's growing and funding's limited, and you look at this and you look at the gap. What is it, what does it mean for you in terms of trying to plan even a couple years out?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yeah, that's where that's our biggest challenge right now. The biggest challenge we're facing right now is around uh budgets.

SPEAKER_03 13:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Um, we're taking we have uh just multiple threats to our budget right now happening both at the federal, the state, and the local level. Medicaid is um something we're heavily dependent on and is really uncertain right now for us.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Um, so our planning generally, we would be doing you know, three to five year planning, right, innovation, visioning, what what new programs are we thinking? Right now, it's about hanging on to everything we have.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

The four-month plan.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

It it kind of is. I mean, it's it's like, what do we do right now today? What are we gonna do in six months? What do we maybe look at next year? And I kind of beyond that, there's so much uncertainty that it's it's kind of difficult to go too much beyond that at this point. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Do you um we briefly talked about this before we began recording about that intersection between, you know, the housing crisis, homelessness, what your role as uh a mental health provider is. And maybe you can speak to that because I know that just from cursory social media reading and what you see in the media, that there's always the cliche and the thought that you know, this homeless population, if they only had mental health services, it would go away. Right. And we know that's not the case. There's a million different um reasons why people right. They need a roof. A roof would probably go a lot further. But so maybe explain like what how do you how do you re interact with that? What's what's your messaging around that?

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Yeah, I mean, our messaging is that we are a health department, so we're focused on the health of our community and we have both public health and behavioral health. So on the public health side, their their interventions are around um, you know, think about like encampments, we want to prevent disease spread. So, you know, we have services that are going out into camps to make sure that people are, you know, that diseases are being tracked and caught and treated. Um, we also do a lot of emergency planning and preparedness. So when it gets really cold or there's smoke, our public health department is working to make sure there's shelter for people who are unhoused or place, or at least that they know where the shelter is. So that's kind of on the public health side of things. And there's lots of other areas in which we get involved on a health perspective. Behavioral health, obviously, we have lots of clients that we serve that are unhoused. So our focus is around treating those individuals in whatever setting they're in, um, helping them get to housing if that's where they're wanting to go and willing to go. Um, and then you know just providing the support to them um from a behavioral health perspective where we can't we do street medicine, we go out to the encampments and provide meds out there. So that's that's our role, and also providing um you know, we have some uh staff that are all experts and kind of the the the contributors to houselessness, and so we're at the table. Right. But we are not an entity that can solve the housing crisis. We don't have the authority, the resources, um, or the knowledge to to figure out how to build affordable housing in our community. Right. Um so we were and and that gets tricky. So it's we're at the table, we're a part of the conversation, but um, it's gonna take a lot of people to solve that problem.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

I'm just curious if they do, like in this area when they're doing a sweep or they're doing something where there's going to be a large disruption or there's gonna be a lot of impact, and you're at the table, you know, hearing it, and you know that those those are the stressors, those are the things that are gonna, you know, tip the scales for a lot of people. Does it mean any do you activate on that, or do you have to wait until after after the dust settles or while the dust cloud is there? What does that mean for you guys?

SPEAKER_01 17:26

A little bit of both. I mean, we're we're there to support our people that we serve. Um, and so whatever that means, sometimes it's means that if we know something's coming, we can be proactive and sort of helping them figure out what they're gonna do. Primarily there for emotional support. Uh it's it's really tricky for my staff because we can't make that better for them. Right. At the end of the day, they're going to be displaced. They still don't have a home and they're struggling amend uh tremendously. So it's a it's it's a lot for our staff to sort of witness, bear witness to, and not be able to solve, but we can sometimes we are the only people in their lives that can walk alongside them through that and help them problem solve and help them get to the resources that might make it a little bit better.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Yeah. I've been sitting here trying to think of the right wording around the legislation that was passed where um now in Oregon there can be a little bit more active intervention for people who have mental health.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Oh, yes. Civil commitment.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Civil commitment. Yes. There it was. Yep. Um has has the recent legislation around civil commitment has how does that impact you? Because now you're you are being pulled in. You you can be pulled directly in this at a third party's behest.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Well, we always have been able to be pulled in third party. I so we can uh the civil commitment laws, what's changed is really they've they've sort of in theory made it um a little bit easier for us to intervene and uh force somebody involuntarily into the hospital. But I will say it's really early. Um, and really where this stuff plays out is in um appellate court, um, a case law. Uh so it, you know, the legislation can mean one thing, but then how it gets applied in the court system and how it gets overturned in the in the court systems and all of that will really dictate to us what these laws mean. Um, it's just too early to tell at this point. One one area, I mean, I think we think it's a good thing to lessen the bar because our system in Oregon is really reactive and not very proactive. Sure. So we often have to wait for people to be so sick or have really terrible outcomes before we could intervene. This is in theory gonna make that uh better. However, when we don't necessarily have enough resources in terms of residential capacity or treatment capacity to actually absorb if there is a bigger influx of people in that setting. So they sort of changed the law before the resources came. But you know, it's like I don't know when's the right time. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

That's kind of government. It's it's just that's what you signed up for. The conversation is coming and they're saying, figure it out, you know, here we go. Do you do you see with civil commitment? Um I I could see it raising the profile of individuals who might not otherwise have been on the count been on the county's radar. Do you I mean there's certainly I would think there would be a more a greater need for services, which i.e. is more funding, more housing. Is that how you look at this as it starts to wind its way through? Because as they clarify, it's just kind of coming closer to you, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Yeah. I mean, certainly we're if we start to see an influx, that will then inspire conversations around additional resources needed. I worry, though, with the budget situation at the state level and the federal level, right? Where that money is gonna come from.

SPEAKER_03 20:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Um, and so it's it's just uh, yeah, we'll have to wait and see because I just don't I don't see anybody wanting to write large checks right now. It's it's tight times.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

Do you um what do you think is the biggest misconception out there? Not not necessarily about mental health, but about the county's role in in regards to the population that needs your services.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Um in terms of um like the mental health side of things. Yeah. Yeah, like the biggest misconception. Um I think people don't understand this involuntary uh commitment stuff. That I think where we get probably the most frustration from families or community members is when they see somebody really ill and they want to know why the county isn't doing something about that and putting that person in the hospital. And and we're sort of like, we agree. We think they should be in the hospital as well. Right. Um and if we could do that, we absolutely would. But it's and that that's just tough to explain to people in terms of the laws and regulations that govern that. It's so complex and restrictive, and it doesn't quite frankly often make a lot of sense. Um, and so it's I think that's where people think we can do more than we can.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

Yeah. Well, it it ends up. Up you um I mean their hands are tied even though you can see a crisis coming. Yeah and really instead of having the button pre-dialed to mental health services, they have it pre-dialed for the police. Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

And we're really lucky here though, at least now with our mobile crisis team that um came on. We've had a mobile crisis team for 20 years. So the team goes out, they used to go out with law enforcement. In 2023, we moved to a model where we go out without law enforcement and calls that go directly to 911 that are mental health calls come directly to us.

SPEAKER_03 22:31

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

And so we are now bypassing law enforcement, even getting many of those calls, which is huge because now people who don't know what else to do and they just call 911 will get the right service for them, not a law enforcement officer showing up with a gun.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Yeah, I think that was part of that really bad PR push of defund the police, wasn't it? Yes. And really it was just like, let's get them direct mental health services. And I remember thinking I understand what you're trying to say, but um didn't land you're you're offending people on both sides of the aisle of that lines.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yeah, it was true. We did have to sort of battle that. It was like we still need police a hundred percent. In fact, even if we have this model, we still need them to go with us sometimes. It's just not safe.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Um, and so there's it's a partnership, but yes, if we can get therapists out there for calls that don't need a law enforcement officer, we should do that.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

Yeah. Do you um in the so we've talked a lot about the mental health aspect of your job. Um, maybe speak to some of the other things you spend probably 80% of your time on.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Oh gosh, yeah. Well, right now, short session. So we're in the middle of, you know, we just started short session, fast and furious, lots of people.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Do you spend time with the legislators? I do.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Uh I I'll go down and testify on bills that are related to the health department. Um, I am in contact with our legislators when they have questions about different bills or they're proposing bills. So we have a wonderful relationship with our uh delegation here in Central Oregon. Um, in fact, I I I would credit um them with the fact that we're getting a child psychiatric facility in our region in the next year. That was direct work with our elected officials to um advocate for funding for that, which came and now we'll have that. So we we do work with them. That's that's a lot of what I do is trying to keep those relationships strong, make sure they understand our perspective on bills that are coming uh down the line to make sure they understand the impact. Right. Um, and thankfully they do. They do trust us and we've got credibility with them. So that's a lot of what I'm doing right now.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

Yeah, I I can imagine you're busy. But um, do you get directly solicited from people within the community regarding the work you do with the legislators?

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Um, not necessarily from the community.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

No, no, it's usually it's more just on the county's behalf. It is. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't know how yeah sticky that got.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Yeah, it can get sticky. And even as you know, I've got uh we've got processes within the county to make sure I'm speaking, you know, in concert with what the county's perspective is as well.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

Yeah, it's not like Holly just went Holly just went off when she was up there. Exactly. Yeah, um what happens for you after this after the short session?

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Yeah, after short session, we're in deep um budget season. So we are building our budget for fiscal year 27. And right now that is all hands on deck because we are looking at um reductions across the board in a variety of spaces while our costs have gone up um dramatically. So we are problem solving all over the place, trying to figure out how to do the same amount of work with less, not even more with less, but just trying to hang on to what we have and keep programs solid. Because I think, you know, um as it's likely that Medicaid enrollment is going to reduce um with the passage of HR one, we will see an impact to our budgets because of that.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Do you think that the community, I there's been so much discussion about these impacts that are coming to Medicare, and um there's al already been the reductions to the ACA. And do you get the feeling that people in the community understand the I mean, within and I I I had um I had Kat uh Mistrangelo on here. We were talking about volunteers of medicine. And at the time, I think this was in November. Um, you know, people had not were not aware, you know, and and they were aware. People who are doing budgeting are certainly aware. People within the medical profession, I think, are very aware. Do you get the sense that the general community is aware of the impacts that these cuts are going to have on the community?

SPEAKER_01 26:31

No, not really. I mean, I think that people that maybe track all of the stuff, maybe are more politically involved, maybe have know someone that works in healthcare, understand it. But your average person, I mean, you know, my husband, I'm not sure. I mean, like my, you know, I'm married and I don't know that my husband understands the what's happening in Medicaid because he works in you know, irrigation. So it's right, it's like your average person who doesn't live this life every day is not gonna understand the impacts until they start happening. Right. Um, and then the people are gonna wonder what the heck's going on? Why can't I get you know my appointment? Why can't I you know get access to my prime, you know, what happened to my insurance? I did I I thought I was enrolled, I'm now not enrolled. What's happening? Um, so I think particularly people who uh are on the organ health plan who have to navigate all of these new requirements are gonna settle.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Yeah, I wonder, I I and you know, that's always the thing you think is that until it happens to them, they they won't understand. But um, I've been surprised at the magnitude of the cut and that it's not reverbiating more because there's a lot of stuff out there in the you know, political discourse. And I know, you know, there's things there's a lot of things happening on a lot of different fronts, which has been pretty distracting. But um this one kind of sticks to me is like, you know, because it is a uh kitchen table topic. It's like by now people should have gotten their calculator out and been like, well, this looks like this and this looks like this. And I haven't heard it because I feel, you know, we're in media, and of course, you know, letters to the editor and stuff, and they're they're focused. I mean, obviously there's a lot that people want to talk about, but um I'm surprised that they're not getting down to more of the nitty-gritty about their particular case. Yeah. It's one thing when you're talking about the federal government or the state government as an entity, Oregon's huge, America's huge, but your little house is pretty small and you can do that math. And um yeah, I I I don't even have a question in there. I really am just been surprised. And when I sit down with uh health professionals like yourself, it it just comes back to me, like, oh yeah, this is um gonna when do you think people will actually start to feel the impact?

SPEAKER_01 28:49

What's the uh my my guess, I mean, I think we'll all start to feel really feel it, feel it, probably um going into the next fiscal year. So July of 2027. Um I think, you know, starts to hit in January of 27 is when some of the federal stuff starts to hit, but it may not play out for a couple months. So I think you'll really start, I think people will start to especially if they're on the Oregon Health Plan and they now have to understand that they have to re-enroll every six months and they aren't able to navigate that, or you have a family member that's not able to navigate that and suddenly they don't have health insurance and they suddenly can't get their medications or they can't make their appointments and they're going into crisis. Um these are the these are the things that will start to rise up um and catch people's attention. Um or work requirements go into play for other you know, so all of that stuff next year.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

What um in order not to end this podcast on a on a down note, yeah. What are the things that you are excited about in 2026 from from your perspective within the county?

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Well, we have got some, we do have some really exciting stuff that will not be impacted by these budget um situations. And this was stuff we've been working on, but we are gonna be adding a number of residential beds to our community that we haven't had in decades. So, one, I was telling you about the child psychiatric facility. We have no child psychiatric facility that that serves this population in our region.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

A child, what's age?

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Up to, I think uh this facility is up to 17. Oh, great. Yeah, so it's um right now when a child has a psychiatric emergency that needs inpatient, they have to go over the mountain and they have to go stay in Portland, their families have to travel, and it's really hard to get into. Um, so they often sit in our emergency department for sometimes weeks on end waiting for a bed to open up. So we're gonna be adding a facility here, and that's huge. It's been decades in the making. Um, the other thing, we're adding another residential facility for adults to secure that will help with the civil commitment issue. Like if we do start seeing an employment, we actually will have a place where they can get treated. So that's coming online this fall of this year. Um, and then we're adding another two adult foster homes that'll be kind of lower levels of care for step down out of the so all in total, around 40 beds being added in our community, but we haven't added any in the last month since I've been here. Um and so that's huge. That will help us navigate some of these challenges. And then I just think I'm I'm just a believer and I I'm I'm I guess I'm an optimist when it comes to this, but you know, we whenever you go through really tough times, like with COVID and or any other tough times we've been through, there's there's always things you learn and there's ways you you become better because you have to you have to get really resourceful and you have to collaborate and be innovative and think of ways to get through it. And you somehow come out with nuggets of things that help you be better for the long term. And I fully expect that will be the case this go around as well.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

I think that's because you're a mental health professional. You do this for a living. That's true. I want some of that. I want I went into the wrong field. I I I'm only halfway to that point. Then the journalist side takes over and we just start hammering it down. Uh well, Holly, thanks for coming in. Anything that we didn't touch on, I mean, there's uh we could go for hours, but I could go for hours now.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

I'm just really excited to be in this role. Um grateful to be working for um Deschutes County and living in this beautiful place and happy to talk about the health department anytime.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

Yeah, I'm gonna uh um since you're in the room, I'm gonna give you all credit for getting those beds and everything because you were at the legislature lobbying. So no credit to Anthony or Jason or anything. Well, this has been the Ben Don't Break Podcast. Thank you for listening. Uh, if you like what you heard, please go on the website, become a member, uh, make a donation, and help keep supporting great interviews like this one with Holly. We're so glad you came by. Thanks for having me. You've been listening to the Ben Don't Break Podcast, powered by the Source Weekly. To read, hear, and see more of what we do, go to BensOurce.com.