Stanislaus was one of the first counties in California to submit a plan for funding from the Mental Health Services Act, the voter-supported tax on millionaires to expand the state’s mental health services.
As mental health budgets shrink and services erode in Stanislaus County California, Aspen Family Medical Group, a primary care clinic, has taken on a key role in treating the county's uninsured mentally ill.
Richard Curtis' schizophrenic son was rejected repeatedly from Social Security, which would allow him to qualify for Medi-Cal and more extensive county services.
Deputy David Frost, who oversees a California county jail’s two mental health wings, said it’s not uncommon for seriously ill inmates to wait there for months, even after a judge orders them transferred to a state hospital.
There is one thing mentally ill adults in Stanislaus County, California share — they often have nowhere to turn for treatment.
