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

then i also want to thank amy wong, sarah larson and jennifer and the many others who spent every single day of their life doing this heart-loving incredibly difficult work who care so much about these patients, who are their family and who haven't let them down for a moment. you are extra human beings. getting to know you has made this job worth it for me. thank you so much for being the extraordinary people that you are and for caring and loving these patients with the dedication that you do. you really inspire me so much. thank you. i also want to thank the emergency room nurses who joined with the arf p heather, julie and the conservators who take care of the sickest individuals and and advocate on their baffin behalf. michelle and victor. you have just wowed us all. care tho

thank you. >> i am sarah larson, mental health treatment specialist. i have been working here since before it opened. we have accomplished a lot to keep it open, our work isn't done yet. the budget for is so closely guarded not even the program directors know what is in it or where it goes. i have seen how under funding the program under mines the services no funding for activities, clothing, shoes, basic things people need to get by every day. where is the money going? lack of resources and staffing put more and more on the staff to make sure the vulnerable residents are taken care of. we are expected to fundraise to pay for activities in a publicly funded program. i personally have to recycle trash. this is an outrage. it was able to happen because our facility has been flying under the radar for a very long time now. clients and workers' voices have been ignored by management and i look forward to discussing this in the works group which gives staff a voice. i want a recommitment to rehabilitation. as we step forward the dph sent the unions a notice

. >> 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

. >> my name is sarah larson and i worked in san francisco dhp for 40 years and almost 25 now. i was very encouraged by the fact that the current head of human resources has resigned. i'm thinking we would have a fresh start. someone new from someone outside. instead the job was less than like a week later it was handed to someone who had been the head of hr and has been the head of other things and is kind of just another permanent ride on the san francisco merry go ground of bureaucracy. i would like to see some fresh blood. i mean, every time i hear someone say oh it takes two years to hire someone, that's just ridiculous. i mean, that really needs to change. there's no reason it should take that long. there's no reason that management should be lying about hiring people when dph is 20% understaffed and we need some fresh blood up there at the top. i think the city missed a really great opportunity to bring something like that in. because, as i said earlier, we need a lot of new clinicians and that being said, i would like to say also that laguna honda hospital, 1600 beds or