Westside : Mental Health Facility Spared From Budget Ax

The budget ax swung so close to Jump Street’s front door this year that staff, patients and supporters deluged Los Angeles County officials with letters and telephone calls in an effort to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding for the Santa Monica residential mental health facility.

The county provides $820,000 for Jump Street and its sister program, Excelsior House in Inglewood.

Their efforts paid off, Jump Street officials said. The two programs have been spared.

“We’re jubilant,” said Jody Roberts, Jump Street’s program director.

Operated by the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Center in West Los Angeles, Jump Street has room for six patients at a time--people with mental illnesses who are released from hospitals and have nowhere to live. Staff members help patients sign up for public benefits, enroll in substance-abuse programs and find housing.

Edmund delVillar, a Venice artist who came to the facility from UCLA Medical Center this week, calls the program a “godsend.”

DelVillar said that when he was released from the hospital, his head continued to ring with voices that had driven him to leap off a cliff this summer. Before coming to Jump Street, he had no apartment and no income and needed help in applying for medical aid.

“You know what I really have trouble with--all the forms,” he said. “And [the Jump Street staff] is helping me fill them all out.”

However, Jump Street officials realize their troubles may not be over, since funding cuts could loom for the facility in years to come.