BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — New York State has rolled out with a $1 billion transformative, multi-year investment to overhaul mental health care.
Governor Kathy Hochul said this will drastically reduce the number of New Yorkers with unmet needs.
Thursday night, Pheben Kassahun heard from one organization that aligned with Governor Hochul's vision and looks forward to seeing what a billion dollars will do.
UB Heals assistant program manager, Victoria Hoffman said, "We at UB Heals are really excited to see that there will be increased access to care, specifically targeted for individuals in Buffalo that are facing homelessness. Try to get as many people that are at-risk or that are on the streets to get off the streets and into safe and clean housing."
Victoria Hoffman is the assistant program manager for UB Heals.
It is a volunteer, street medicine and outreach initiative where medical students, doctors and community partners come together on street rounds to provide medical care and basic services to the homeless citizens of Buffalo.
Hoffman said, "Many of these people that we meet on street rounds have not received care in a clinical setting, in a really long time. That's why it's so important for us to go and meet them where they're at and find whoever wants help in the streets."
Going six years strong, the outreach initiative provides medical care like, physical exams, food, water and winter clothing, as well as various toiletries.
Hoffman said, "Everyone that we meet has some degree of unmet medical needs, especially when it comes to mental health. We have psychiatrists and mental health professionals that come out with us on a regular basis that know everyone by name and they know their stories and they're really dedicated members of the UB Heals team."
"There's other aspects of mental health. Some that we would not have seen many years ago. Yesterday, as we spoke about mental health, we were talking about children. Children who are their prey to these algorithms designed by sophisticated companies to keep bombarding them with messages. They're not showing pictures of puppies and lollipop," New York State Governor Kathy Hochul said.
Governor Hochul is also pushing for New York to lead the way when it comes to helping children.
"This is why I am working to get mental health services in our schools. You catch the signs early. You help these young teenagers not have their minds infiltrated with these messages, and just maybe. Maybe we can stop the next generation," Gov. Hochul said.
She hopes the 2024 fiscal year budget correcting a system that has suffered from decades of chronic underinvestment in the mental health and homeless realm.
