will start with background information on the bhc which is the building in which it is located. next i will provide an overview of the program. then i will present the facts and circumstances that led to the current plan and, finally, i will review where things stand now in the proposed next steps. currently, the behavioral health center provides both locked, sub-acute and patient treatment and unlocked delayed egress residential care for adults and seniors who have behavioral health needs. however, the bhc didn't start that way. it has a long history that has evolved over time to meet the changing circumstances based by those in need of behavioral

health services. a brief review of the history includes that the facility first opened in 1996 as the mental health rehabilitation facility called the merf. it was then a 147 bed psychiatric skilled nursing facility. then in the early 2000s as the environment in san francisco began to shift toward the need for more lower level residential beds, in 2003 the mayor of san francisco established a blue ribbon committee for a new design for the services provided. that process resulted in 2004, thmerf moving to a three program

mixed use facility consisting of a 47 bed secure and locked mental health rehabilitation center on the third floor. a 59 bed psychiatric on the second. 41 bed residential facility. in 2005 the adult residential facility was licensed by the state community care licensing and began receiving first admissions. that leads us to what we have today, which is again on the third floor a 47 bed merk also called institute for mental disease, locked sub-acute mental health unit. on the second floor a 59 bed residential care facility for the elderly, also considered a board and care facility. on the first floor a 41 bed

residential facility. in 2017, we added an additional program to the first floor of the behavioral health center. that is a hummingbird psychiatric respite center. to familiarize ourselves, the merk is locked sub-acute of care to elderly houses individuals 60 years of age and over. again, hummingbird which is a psychiatric respite on the first floor. what you don't see is the arf. i am going to devote the next severals to talk more about its

program. the operation of the arf. it is 24 hours each day, nonmedical care but supervised facility for adults 18 to 59 with severe mental illness that are stable but still need care, assistance and supervision. some of the services to the residents are housekeeping of their rooms. some require assistance with personal care and as they administer medications prescribed by their providers. where do patients come from who wind up on the arf? they receive referrals from acute care hospitals, locked sub-acute units like the america and other board and care facilities. it is a licensed residential

facility licensed by state community care licensing, which is part of the department of social services. i am going to slow down a little more because there is a lot of information that we want to share to make sure you understand. it is important to step back and revisit the circumstances that bring us here today. for many years from 2005 up until 2013, operations a at arf were proceeding. in may of 2014 we submitted a request to the state to expand the number of licensed beds from 41 to 55. however, in december of that year, just 7 months after

getting approval to expand to 55 beds we received citations for medication issues that required development of corrective action plan. this was approved by the state and implemented in december of 2014. the plan of correction involved numerous staff straining and education sessions about resident safety, workplace safety and medication assistance oversight. some staff to make these errors in the same areas from this they received the retraining. some of the results of this process was that it led to disciplinary process for some staff which included employee

termination. during that time we also saw the unfortunate circumstance of staff beginning to file complaints against one another and reporting each other to regulatory agencies. during december 2014 through september 2018 despite implementing the performance improve meant plan. they were unable to go more than five months without incident or community care licensing coming on site to investigate the facility. in september 2018 we were notified the arf was being placed in noncompliance and mandated to attend the conference. we were advised by state

community care licensing that it was their expectation a facility would need to go one to two years without any additional citations to be removed from noncompliant status. furthermore it could have resulted in us going to add enough review to result in the loss of the facility license to operate. on december 2018, two months after the nomcompliance concerts we received two level a citations. they are the most serious types of violation. these were in the areas of medication use and the same types of citations which put us

into noncompliance. at that time they informed us because these were repeat we were at prior risk of going to the possibility of using -- losing our license for the arf facility putting our clients at risk at having to be moved out of the behavioral health center. it is important to note in the midses of these changes we were never able to an receive the 55 at the arf. what did management staff do about what was going on at the arf? since the initiation of the corrective action plan, additional plans have been

developed and approved by state regulators. some of the letter corrective action plans im movement im poos -- improvements different. in terms of staff complaints we partnered with the department of public health to provide assistance with disciplinary actions. in addition to addressing staff shortages and vacancies we meet weekly with human resources to focus on filling vacancies in the arb. we were three staff away

frommenning mullly someplace. we had workplace and regulatory citations. consequently, our ability to maintain care and not put our license in jeopardy was a real concern for us. it is important for me to note and sum up the situation of citation. sept 2015 and 18. they received 10 citations, the highless level that can be offered by community care licensing.

in terms of the decision to suspend beds there is much confusion and misinformation why we chose to temporarily suspend to license to operate some of the beds at the arf. i will share some of the facts. due to the ongoing unresolved regulatory staff behavior and staff hiring issues at the arf, we determined since there were vacant unstaffed beds on the facility upstairs, residential care for the elderly, it made sense to move some of the arf residents upstairs, particularly those 60 years of age. they had 22 empty beds at that time. in addition to moving the residents up tears we were

moving staff upstairs. we felt this was appropriate for three reasons. first, to allow all 59 beds on the residential care facility for the elderly to be fully staffed and occupied, second it allows those reassigned from the arf. it was an environment not experiencing the high level of complaints and citations so they could experience firsthand what it is like to work in a higher functioning board and care facilities. it would permit the bed on the first floor the opportunity to focus on getting to the corrective actions they needed to improve its operation. is the status of the arf beds

license temporary suspension in may of this year we requested the state and they approved to put 27 of those arf beds in suspension. this is not getting rid of the license but putting it in suspense for another year. this resulted in 41 of the 55 licensed beds being insistent. 14 of the beds would continue and are continuing to be operated on the first police officer. the plan was to have the residents upstairs to the care facility for elderly or other placements if they so chose. now, i will talk about the circumstances at the arf affecting residents and staff.

as a result of our plan, we thought long and hard to make sure we would do something to help our residents and also make sure we were honoring our staff. in this proposed plan no residents would be evicted. no staff would lose employment to ascertain the leading causes of organizational beds. we could move forward to operate all 55 of the arf beds. in addition to these factors, the redevelopment of empty unused beds in the arf could be re-purposed to provide additional beds for homeless clients in need of behavioral services by expanding the

humming bird psychiatric respite program. i would like to talk about hummingbird and why its expansion is important. a background. hummingbird first opened in 2017 with 15 beds, which as i said before were always full. then it expanded by 14 beds in february over 2019. those beds were the result of the beds we asked to go to suspension to use the beds for hummingbird h bird. >> to date it serves 500 clients. it is a primary discharge for those discharged from zucker

bird san francisco. 30% are from the psychiatric services. this is a safe place to be other than is on the streets where they are the opportunity to engage with staff and be offered services and hopefully willing to accept the services at some point. next i will review the communication about the arf plan. on july 22 of this year the union with affected staff by this change was neverred and offered the ability to meet with management to discuss the plan. that meeting to discuss occurred this morning at 11:00 a.m. after months of trying to schedule the meeting. staff and the arf were informed

by myself, kelly and linda, the manager of the health center, when we went to the 7:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. shifts to explain to staff what the plan was for keeps 14 bedses on the first floor and relocating 18 residents upstairs. despite the amount of controversy on this issue. we did not do a sufficient job in communicating the issues involving the arof and proposed change. going forward we will do better. where are we now? as the director stated in his report, changes are on hold while the mayor and board of supervisors talk about how to proceed in a way that

accomplishes our shared goals. in addition, as always, residents have a choice where they choose to be. if any of the current residents prefer to move upstairs to qualify for of 0 years of age and older. we will accommodate their request to move if they solution. no staff are losing their jobs and that we are committed we will take no further action until the city leaders deliberate this issue and come back with more directive. we are recognizing there needs to be changing in the operation of the arf and other presumes. we are developing a corrective action plan for the arf and we

will present that to director colfax. in that performance improvement plan, we will make sure that resident safety is our top priority and that we also address the issues in terms of workplace culture of the a rf so we can improve the operation for our staff and our clients. that concludes my part of the presentation. i will make myself and kelly available to hopefully answer questions you may have. >> i would like to recognize and invite supervisor ronan to come speak to us. >> thank you for having me. it is a pleasure to be back. it was very important for me to

come here today and urge you all to get more involved in this situation. i have to say it has been incredibly disappointing from the get-go, and i am here mostly to support the workers of the adult residential facility. i tabled with you that i feel of the mental health crisis that is taking place in our streets every single day. i don't know about you. i travel through the mission right by general every day. every single day i see people often with half naked with hospital bracelets still on that are muttering, screaming,

clearly just out of the hospital that are severely mentality ill. we are losing the facilities at rapid rates and where the city's only public run facility able to take care of the sickest individuals is also expanded. iit is not acceptable. these problems have been lapping for the past five years. where has been the leader ship on the part of management? all i have heard is blaming workers for problems. when there are conflicts on my staff, people are not getting along, mistakes are made.

i don't blame them. i am the manger. i set up new systems. i correct it so so i can function with my main job of representing the people of san francisco. na should have been going on in the arf for the past five years. instead despite reports showing corrective action plan in place, the decision to close the facility at the aim time the mayor's tom priority is to deal with the crisis on the street. it is so glaring i don't understand how this is happening in our city. i am angry. i don't understand where the leadership is to act with the urgency i have.

this is not the dbm that runs the lost innovative programs in the country. this is not the one that led on violence prevention. we are failing the workers who take care of them every day. i hope you are reading the press. reading the excellent journallism especially at the local. the art chemdetailed step by step what happened. one of the most disturbing aspects is that there were 11 conserved individuals. i have been talking to their public defender. they were languishing in jail, some for over nine months waiting for a for the problems

of management. they have been languishing in jail. when their public defender got fed up and said this is ridiculous, i can't get answers, i am going to sub the department of public health. all eight are in beds out of jail. some lang winninged for 8 months. >> this is a scandal of the highest proportion. people are waiting in jail so desperately i ll we can't find a bed for nine months until they come to court everything i am angry. this is the most humane i have seen. all i have seenence i called the

mayor's office. we it is by our plan. we have staffing issues and blame the workers. it is not good enough. we have got to do something to get those beds up and running. we are talking about hiring 12 more workers. in two years the department of public health doesn't have that capacity so that mentality i ll people can get the care they need. is that the department we are running in the city these days? i have brought copiesna i introduced when this was happening. directs the department of public health to open beds. directs the department of human resources to take over management of the arf and provide some professional management and staff hires to

get this facility up and running and serving the people dying in jails and on the streets every day. i implore you to act with the urgency the workers have and i somewhere on the board of supervisors that most of my colleagues that is lacking the vision and leadership to take care of the crisis on the street. join us and act with that level of urgency. it is morality and an issue of life and death. thank you. (applause). >> before the department responds to the repor.

>> reporter: we will have -- from the speaker, would you add here to the timer it would be helpful to folks behind you and gives us an opportunity to hear from everybody who wants to speak. i thank you in advance a apologize for anybody's name i ruin. i will start with first five. patrish an shaallen, -- patricia, jennifer, doctor palmer, janette cooling, i believe. i can't read the writing. >> i stay at the arf facility. i don't think they should close it down.

that is my place of living. i have been there for five years along with my other clients there. i feel that the arf shouldn't be closed down. thank you. >> thank you, ms. allen. >> good afternoon. i am a mental health worker at the facility also known as arf. i want to thank you. thank you so much. i don't have anything to say because supervisor ronen said everything i will agree with what he is saying. i is agree with her.

i came to the arf to the mental health and living en independeny in the community. it is in the hopes of enabling them to get back into the community. some clients are able to move to lesser care. unfortunately, a majority of clients are in need of constant care and attention. the ones that need the most care received eviction on august 19. we have an established program serving the needs of san francisco adult mental health population for the last 14 years. instead of building on the program and increasing beds, the program has been losing beds. not because of the care we are provides. i ask you to consider the

individuals you are affecting before making changes. that will have a negative impact on the more helpless clients. displacing the mental health and taking their home are not the solution to the homeless issues. let's address the facility issues and work together to solve them so we can all retain our beds and continue to serve the members of the community. thank you so much. [applause.] >> thank you. >> i am theresa palmer a long time san franciscan. usually i talk about long-term care. this whole thing is extremely upsetting, and my hope is the department of public health can improve from the fallout of this

fiasco. keeping long-term care beds empty because of what amounts to dph's lack of will to fill them is unacceptable. i can't help having the paranoid thoughts the mayor wanted to gain political points by keeping beds empty to say she could offer navigation beds then in the coverup. i may be off on that but that is what it looks like. this disregard for the mentally ill is chilling. i hope this thought is not the case. there is no easy solution to the long and short term beds in san francisco. surely we can do a better job by working together. please work with and not at odds with those in city government in san francisco who really care. don't close down arf beds, staff

them and re-open them. work with supervisors haney and ronen who are looking at ways to fix this. thank you. >> marcus -- i can't read it. houseman, i believe. janette cooling. vivian and amy. >> i am marcus heisman, a resident at the arf off and on since 2009. all i got to say is, is this discrimination against gay people like myself secretly, and i think 10 times before you kick people out on the streets.

it is not safe out on the streets. thank you. >> i am janette connelly, and i live in the reseptive behavioral health center for more than 15 years. i went from there and i worked in the acute care psychiatric area, and i see that you keeping beds empty at the behavioral health center when there is an ample amount of people ready to go from acute care and in the medical area of san francisco general. it is just almost criminal. we have huge amounts of people getting acute care services that really need to be on a lower level of care and they are unable to move because there is empty beds not being filled.

to change them and the bhc that it is now called is just i don't know. i think you need to find a better solution to find the navigation center or shelter to open them up in the city. bhc is doing a good job of caring for the patients in the facility. a lot of people work well there, there is need for it. if you close down the needs met there now, what is going to happen to people that are in the jails, in the medical area, and in the psychiatric area that need to go to a lower level. if you eliminate a lower level area you are going to have a bottleneck. you will have the psychiatric areas in the acute areas of general bottlenecked and you will create a big problem, in my opinion.

thank you. >> amy wonk, vivveon, jennifer. >> i am amy wonk. i am a mental health specialist on the third floor of the mental health center. i have been working there 20 years. what i have seen over the time and time again is the lack of transparency of the management. the lack of the transparency i just heard -- thank you. he mentioned a couple things that stood out that i have to mention. he mentioned the 14 beds. there are 13 beds now. one bed was made for or attempted to be made to a washer and drier room. the other one is noncompliant

with the state regulation. one to two years to correct the problem. i have spoken to several colleagues. that has not happened. where is the transparency. if -- transparency. the people impacted and the residents who lived at the arf. because when they are not being transparent that is under mining the actual good work that the staff had been doing for the past 10 or 20 years that i have been there. they have been doing a phenomenal job, and so by under mining the clinical work of the staff, it compromises the care of the residents. i am very concerned the residents will suffer trauma, deterioration from the poor decision of suspending the arf

beds. the members of the health commission, we are demanding to really to rescend this notice and open up the arf beds. >> i am vivian, a staff representative for local 21. we represent some workers at the bhc. i am here on behalf of staff who requested i make some corrections on doctor pickens' presentation. here are some corrections as follows. doctor pickens gave incorrect statistics in his presentation. none of the bhc staff has been terminated. number two, the number of citations he sited is incorrect and in addition to that the

state determination of noncompliance is related to a death which occurred on the sfgh campus. as representative of the staff i am here to say dph has got to stand by the staff and not be throwing them under the bus. in addition, i would like to mention especially ms. kelly. we would love it if you would say something good about the people who make dph run. stop insulting staff, stop insulting workers in public. without these workers and staff you would have no bhc, no arf, no dph. thank you so much. >> jeff esten, michelle, sarah

larson, robert rogers. >> police say your name. >> good afternoon, i am vivrian. i have been a mental health advocate for over 40 years including working in the field for over 20. decades an go we fought to have the mental health residential facility built. we expected that it always would be fully utilized. recently there was a plan to switch some beds to navigation center beds. this essentially pitted one group of people needing services against another. the community revolted. before the publico speak, san francisco in an incentive action sent formal notices to vacate to some residents an the the adult residential facility. getting that frightening notice can really set them back.

evicting mental health clients to get positive press about homelessness is a shameful political strategy. then the plot thickens. a number of beds at the facility are empty. why? people wait for months stuck in inappropriate levels of care when, in fact, there are empty beds? at first the county claimed the state forbid them from filling the beds. the state quickly denied this and followed a perplexing periods of excuses for not filling beds. we read there was trouble fills staff positions. then the story shifted again. they were aware of staff negligence and error so they left beds empty rather than expose new admission to say that. what about existing residents.

identifying staff negligence and error at not correcting it is, in fact, negligence and error. they didn't provide services for people needing care. they deemed the staff incapable of doing so properly. this must not go on. people are waiting for services. >> thank you. >> commissioners, secretary, thank you all for having this hearing today. i see appreciate the time. everyone in the audience, i appreciate you coming out. the system is broken. thithis is a symptom. there are 30 beds to close on december 1st. six beds on november 18th, 18

beds on the 17th of this month. that is 54 beds between today and december 1st. we do not have capacity to place 54 people. rye now at the arf and rcfe there are 46 empty beds. i talked to the deputy director today and he informed me the state licensing body told him if people are not placed from the bed that is going to close the home to close this month, they will be sent to the emergency room at san francisco general hospital. this is unacceptable. how much more do we have to spend if 18 people show up at the emergency room with no emergent need except for housing, which we have been providing for a number of years for them? we have open beds right now

sitting vacant we could have put them into a mop ago when we -- month an go. it is because of the neglect from leadership to the people we contracted with. even the contractors are mistreated and decided a $35 a day rate is not enough. the same kind of care we see given to the staff has been given to the contractors and given to the clients. it is not okay. >> time. sarah larson. >> hello i am sarah larson, mental health treatment specialist working since 1986 at ph.d. we are so isolated we have had to be on the edge of closing to have a voice. it has taken 20 years to get

attention to mismanagement. we are a micro-cosm of what is wrong. i met to get clarity on where this is going. we found them to be defensive, rude and hogs tile rather on -- hostile rather than the permanent beds management has the right to make decisions and file grievance. they are suspended arf because of errors and staff conflicts. no conflict management, no team building. it looks like i ca looks like it leadership. new staff are to learn on the job. no clerks and little staff support. the arf would be a great facility if we invested with

leadership with a plan to run it. we have been in a crisis of leadership for beds. this is a political decision, not a necessity. we are not on the verge of losing the license. management is trying to outsource the workers making a living wage with underpaid nonprofit staff. in the meantime our contract with transitions expires in less than six months. neither row land pickens or the resource representatives admit to the knowledge of the contract. it was signed by pickens and hiramoto. we deserve better, our clients deserve better and the citizens of san francisco deserve better. dph has got to change.

>> robert rogers, judith crane,roma guy and jennifer. you can come up in any order. whoever gets here first gets to speak. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am judith claim. as a past employee with over 30 years working with the city, i get how difficult it is to institute change. as a mother with a son with schizophrenia currently lives at the arf we can't afford not to. my son entered with the jails after being beaten by eight police officers. he was moved seven times during the first year of treatment. now you are telling me that it is unsafe for him to be at the arf where he has been for two

years? he has finally found some stability. i don't believe he is unsafe. while it is needing major reforms, it provides low barrier long-term care for severe mental illness that is rapidly disappearing. he was moved from hummingbirds. it does not provide long-term care for people with severe mental illness. keep the beds open at the arf, that service improvements be helped to move them to independence. schizophrenia is a painful condition. i have witnessed my son suffer. not only suffering from his condition. he is suffering from our system of care. please don't reduce the needed resource. thank you.

>> good afternoon. roma guy from taxpayers for public safety. we attacks payers for public -- taxpayers for public safety want to and our support. we want to thank you for having this meeting finally and bringing your leadership and listening ears to problem solve not only be this issue but many as many speakers have said to other issues that are in cries cease in this modern era. the arf, from our point of view, is just another mishap in plugging holes in a leaky old barrel. we must change the healthcare

systems approach at the leadership level, management level and at the practice level if we want to meet the challenges of this era. we did it with h.i.v., and some of you were part of it. i know you are sitting here. we did it with healthy san francisco. we are doing it with pedestrian safety. why not behavioral health? we are behind other jurisdictions and there are many lessons to learn as well as the ones i have sited in our own county and city. we are not problem solving, we are fighting, not helpful to the people we want to solve problems for e.we have chosen positions we must take them on. be visible, transparent and

accountable in the modern era. thank you. >> i am michelle. i think you called my name. i will speak for robert rogers. he left. i am a social worker and i work as a conservator. i am speaking on behalf of private citizens. i think it should be obvious at this point be this is not a good idea. there are enough people saying the same thing over and over again. front line people in the system every day, and a sign of good leadership is when you recognize that may be you have made a mistake and deciding to not make that mistake if you are getting a lot of feedback from the people on the front line like myself, the staff, the doctors,

psychiatrist, every single person working in the system thinks this is a bad idea. we should stop doing that. also, i work on the third floor. i work on the psychiatric facility. you can't tell you how many meetings i have sat in and had to look my client in the eye to tell them that even though they worked through their care, they did everything i asked them. they took medications, went to groups, took showers, they did everything and they are ready to go to a lower level of care and i have to sit in the meeting and tell them there is nowhere to go. we have those meetings month after month, and then to learn there were beds below us they could have gone to. i can't tell you how angry that makes me and how sad it makes me for our system, and if i was my

client, i wouldn't trust me after that. how can we have a therapeutic relationship when they do everything i ask them to do, and those are very difficult things, then i can't give them the thing they have earned which is to come out of a locked facility and be able to walk out on the street. >> thank you. i have one more. >> i am jennifer. i work at the locked facility on the third floor of the behavioral health center, i am a social worker there. i work with san francisco residents there involuntarily hospitalized for treatment knowing they are going to work through. like mitchell is saying, go home and they can't go home for months. there are people there for over a year who can't get out, similar to jail. they can't get out. they need a home like the arf.

two points. one safety concerns put out by dph do not hold water. in the last year from 2017 to 2018 there is one substantiated citation and three at the rcfe one floor up is held open. going to fill to capacity according to this plan. also, the staff that are blamed for the citations are floating up. they work upstairs. the plan is to have them go upstairs. they are already going upstairs. the staff work down stairs. that is happening. this argument that one floor is not safe while the other is doesn't hold water. the citations upstairs are about events leading to a client's death. the humming bird extension is

not doing harm. it is doing harm. they are locked and can't go home. there are 41 people that need somewhere to go. there is a reason the whole community of the san francisco front line workers are coming out. they are getting good care. thithis is a good place. we beg you to hear the word of the public and weigh it against the messaging of d.p.a. to look at what is going on here. thank you for taking time to hear us out today. >> thank you. >> kim, san francisco labor council. i agree with just about all of the public testimony that has gone on here, and i think dph is in a pathetic state. i was here testifying before

this commission many years ago when laguna honda ceased receiving medicare because of the 700 violations. we are talking 10 violations over a four year period. dph is not telling the truth. the people who are supposed to be telling the truth are lying. i think it is pathetic. we have called the state to ask them about the status of the arf, and they have assured us. it is on the website the arf is no no way in jeopardy of closing. why they are perpetrating that is beyond me. this department is playing politics with people's lives.

their sole job is to care for the folks and they would rather play politics? they need to be ashamed of themselves. if we need to clean house, start at the top. it is time to start caring for the people who come to us when they are most needed. i have been talking to taxpayer groups who should sue the department over there. i was there when behavioral health system when this center was built. it was to be a long term behavioral health center, and that is what the taxpayers paid for. the fact you changed it without discussing it with anybody? i think you all should be sued. it is pathetic, sad, and dph needs to do better. >> thank you. any more public testimony?

please come up. >> i am ei am ed de steal. i have a long history of depression and anxiety. this spring it got bad. i ended up in the hospital. i am in the kaiser system. i went to the emergency room. from my personal experience i was able to move from the emergency room to the hospital fairly quickly within six to eight hours. other patients with me were in the emergency room two or three or four days before they could get a bed. there were patients with me in the facility waiting on longer term beds they couldn't get in. they were in the short term facility when they needed to be in the long-term facility blocking the bed for someone in the emergency room. this is what is going on at arf.

if people aren't able to get in the system, people are going to die, od, to self-medicate. i will say to leave beds empty during an acute mental health crisis is the same as withholding future in a famine, keeping water from people in a drought. you are making money. it is not right. open those beds and make more beds for people so we can deal with the mental health crisis on our streets every day. thank you very much. >> good afternoon, i am with community housing partnership and member of the treatment on demand coul coalition. these were written by david lewis. he served two terms.

he had first hand chance to observe the city's behavioral health system of care as well as client receiving services. this was at a time when treatment on demand was much more reality. one-on-one conversations with barbara garcia. providing the treatment in locked facilities was not priority. it was detrimental to recovery. the number of treatment beds were reduced under the leadership of the behavioral health services. it may result in under capacity at the san francisco behavioral health center. the demands off of often resulting from addiction, domestic problems created need for the intensive level of care provided in the facility. de prioritize this facilityr