Author: Will Humble

As I passed by the Arizona State Hospital this week, I again observed acres & acres of dead trees on the Hospital grounds. Hospital leadership apparently elected to stop watering the vegetation on the entire southern part of the hospital grounds some time ago, a reasonable decision.

But… leaving acres and acres of very large dead trees, some falling over & creating a community eyesore is disrespectful to patients, families and the community. It sends a message that they simply don’t care about the property, community or their patients. The Cemetary at the North end of the Hospital grounds also has many dead trees. Not very respectful to the families of the more than 2000 families with family members buried there.

See: Raising Phoenix: Buried Secrets at the Arizona State Hospital

History of ASH Cemetary Records by Paul Strickland March 1960

I urge ADHS & Arizona State Hospital leadership to clean up the property. Failure to do so reinforces a message that they simply don’t care about the hospital grounds or their patients.

Below are photos of the southern end of the property – which is located between 24th & 28th Streets along Van Buren – and the cemetery.

ASH: Several Dead Trees

ASH: Dead Large Tree Canopy

ASH: Dead Tree Falling Over

ASH Dead Trees in the Cemetary

ASH Cemetary Debris & Trash

PS: It shouldn’t take me to point this blight out & intervene – that’s the job of agency leadership

Note: City of Phoenix Neighborhood Preservation Ordinances require property owners to maintain their property free from dead vegetation which presents a blight upon the area. [Sec. 39-7(D): Exterior Premises and Vacant Land] See the Code Here: Chapter 39 Art. II Maintenance Standards | Phoenix City Code

Sec. 39-7(D): Weeds, Bushes, Trees and Other Vegetation

All exterior property areas shall be kept free from dry vegetation, tumbleweeds, weeds, bushes and tall grass and trees which present a visual blight upon the area, which may harbor insect or rodent infestations and dry vegetation, or which may likely become a fire hazard or result in a condition which may threaten the health and safety or the economic welfare of adjacent property owners or occupants.

The premises shall be free from visual blight; potential fire hazards; dead trees and branches; dead palm fronds within ten feet of the ground, a structure, a fence or wall, or of any combustible other than the tree from which the fronds have grown; lawn grass higher than six inches; tumbleweeds; or weeds higher than six inches tall.

Complaints can be filed with the City of Phoenix at: City of Phoenix Customer Service

Democratic and Republican lawmaker are focusing on three reforms to address glaring problems in the state’s behavioral health system.

Senators Catherine Miranda and T.J. Shope:

The Arizona State Hospital provides critically important inpatient psychiatric care to people with mental illnesses who are under court order for treatment. 

Treatment at our state hospital is considered “the highest and most restrictive” level of care. Patients are admitted because of an inability to be treated in a community facility.

Over the last couple of years we’ve become increasingly concerned about shortcomings in Arizona’s behavioral health system, especially the system of care for folks with a serious mental illness.

Arizona State Hospital needs reform. Here’s how to do it.

After studying the problems and examining best practices, we’ve concluded that there are three major areas that need to be fixed during the upcoming legislative session:

• Better oversight and governance of the Arizona State Hospital.
• Improved community reintegration resources.
• More secure residential treatment options.

State hospital needs better oversight

As we pointed out in an opinion piece back in July, we need to fix oversight of our Arizona State Hospital. A lack of independent oversight is putting lives at stake.

A root cause of the poor oversight (and resultant substandard care) is that the same agency runs and “regulates” the hospital — the Arizona Department of Health Services.

That’s a classic example of the fox watching the henhouse.

A top priority for us this upcoming legislative session will be to permanently fix this flawed oversight model by separating the state hospital from ADHS.

Under our bipartisan plan, the superintendent of the facility would report to an independent, appointed governing body composed of people with experience overseeing complex psychiatric facilities. ADHS would then be free to regulate the facility without the conflict of interest that has compromised oversight and care.

Hospital patients need better transitions

The state hospital doesn’t have a way to successfully discharge many patients, meaning many patients get stuck at the hospital even though they really should be transitioning to live more independently.

We propose developing a small “community reintegration” unit to serve as a transitional unit for patients who are approaching discharge from the state hospital but who still need structured care.

How a 1981 lawsuit: Changed mental health care in Arizona

This unit would be similar to the hospital but would offer more of a community-based treatment environment with physical and psychosocial health services and substance use disorder treatment.

We applaud the state hospital for highlighting this critical gap in its recent legislatively-mandated Clinical Improvement Plan.

Secured facilities must be built, staffed

Another critical gap is the lack of secure facilities where folks can receive more intensive care than they can get in Arizona’s existing residential behavioral group homes.

Some persons with a serious mental illness need a safe place to receive treatment but with more structure and better qualified staff than are available in existing residential behavioral health group homes.

The bipartisan budget that former Gov. Doug Ducey signed in 2022 included funds to build three such secure residential treatment facilities, including funding to staff them.

Sadly, those funds were swept out of the current budget.

We believe these facilities are critical and will insist that the funding is restored in next year’s budget.

We look forward to the Joint Legislative Psychiatric Hospital Review Council meetings this fall. We’re eager to share what we’ve learned about the shortcomings in Arizona’s health care system — and the importance of these three key interventions.

We hope the council meetings will serve as a springboard for bipartisan support to do right by folks with a serious mental illness, and their families.

Let’s do this.

Sen. Catherine Miranda is a Democrat representing Arizona Legislative District 11 in central and south Phoenix, and is a member of the Joint Legislative Psychiatric Hospital Review Council. Sen. T.J. Shope is a Republican representing Arizona Legislative District 16 in Pinal County and is chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. On X, formerly Twitter: @CatherineSenate and @TJShope.