Chicago's mental health battle rages on

It's been a whirlwind week for Chicago's mental health centers, four of which were due to shut their doors yesterday. But following a Daily News report detailing billing glitches that directly led to the decision to close the South Side centers, Mayor Daley said the plans were in limbo.

At a press conference yesterday, we asked Mayor Daley to comment on the billing fiasco, and he said the plan to shutter the centers was on hold. That was a day after a coalition of mental health advocates staged a brief sit-in at the mayor's office, demanding a meeting with Daley or his chief of staff, Paul Volpe.

Volpe sat down with them, and offered to meet with them again last night, this time with Terry Mason, the head of the Chicago Department of Public Health. Advocates were enthusiastic to meet with city officials, giving them a five-point plan of demands and solutions, but left disappointed, as no concrete decision was made.

So we're back to Square One. Nobody seems to know what's going to happen. Most health department employees are at a department-wide meeting today. Health department spokesman could not say whether the centers would remain open.

Advocates say they aren't giving up the fight.

“These are the people who can make it happen. If the want to make it happen, it will happen. If they don’t make it happen, these people will die,” said Darryl Gumm, chairman of the Community Mental Health Board.

So more questions remain for the health department and the mayor. Are these centers closing or not? Patients at the Woodlawn clinic told me yesterday morning they were saddened by the closures, but relieved the saga was over. That's not the case anymore, apparently.

The Tribune reported today that the city has billed only $32,000 for fiscal year 2009. That's out of about $5 million they could have earned. The reason the clinics closed is because of a lack of billing, which in turn equals money. What consequences could the mental health system incur?