Santa Cruz County mental health provider nonprofit Encompass, could close Watsonville location
Dania Romero
WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION-TV) — Encompass, the largest nonprofit provider in the county, according to the CEO, Shellee Stopera, could close this location in Watsonville as soon as the end of this month.
“It’s a very heartfelt situation that we’re in, you know, imagining that these individuals, because they’ll have nowhere else to go,” said Stopera
Many of its clients are on Medi-Cal. The future of the affordable health care option is in limbo after Governor Gavin Newsom’s plans to add new restrictions.
“I believe a third of the population has medical. So that’s the demographic that we’re serving. And of course you know, state-level things are coming down, changing and modifying what medicals is gonna look like,” said Stopera.
The non-profit has received $125 from the county for room and board per day. That number is going down to $75 per day. Stopera says that’s not enough to keep the doors open.
“Those discussions had begun with the county informing them that, you know,w we have to look at something different because we can’t sustain 75 dollars,” said Stopera
Those discussions led the county to contribute over $400,000.
But with a deficit of over 600,000 from Encompass, it still was not enough.
This is not the first closure the non-profit has faced. Patients at the Live Oak facility had to be transitioned to other programs or discharged.
And that may happen to the patients in Watsonville.
“Where do these individuals have to go? Where will they go? What’s the impact? You know, will they find, you know, well, you have situations where, you know, they’re more present out in the community, creating and affecting the dynamics in the community,” said Stopera.
Shellee says they have been notified and will work with them to get them transferred to a different program, but worst comes to worst, some may be laid off.
We reached out to the county for comment, but have not heard back.