PCPA is pleased to report that the Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Programs (BDAP) held the first D&A planning meeting on May 6. PCPA along with the Pennsylvania Association County Drug and Alcohol Administrators (PACDAA), PRO-A, DASPOP, and the Health Law Project met with Gene Boyle, Director of BDAP, and his staff to discuss ways to improve the current planning process for D&A services in Pennsylvania.
Two work groups are being organized. The first will be the Single County Authority Administrators reviewing the SCA management plan, which will include the county plan, annual report, and the needs assessment. A second work group will be organized to review and develop the treatment needs assessment piece of the management plan and will include all of the stakeholders. The needs assessment work group will also look at data collection; how it is gathered, analyzed, and applied. This group will be working on both a short-term report and a long-term report recognizing that some information is needed immediately to address the current crisis and that it will take more time to make the more major changes that must be made to improve the needs assessment process.
Terry McSherry of NorthEast Treatment, Inc. and Ned Delaney of Catholic Social Services will be representing PCPA along with Lynn Cooper of the Association staff. Many of the crucial issues identified by PCPA members were presented at the first meeting including demand vs. capacity, emerging needs, special needs such as children, forensics, MISA clients, and the costs to communities when citizens go untreated.
The information developed will be shared with all stakeholders for review and comment. Updates will follow.