Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon's largest mental health provider is on life support, by way of a temporary financial bail-out granted earlier this month.

As Andrew Theen reports, Multnomah County is hosting a public hearing Thursday night on the state of mental health care in the county.

Cascadia serves about 23,000 mentally ill Oregonians.   Just a few weeks ago the non-profit needed an advance from Multnomah County and the state to pay its 1,000 employees.

Jim Clay is Cascadia's spokesman.  He said the company just heard about this evening's public hearing "a couple days ago."

He says people shouldn't expect to hear any new information on program cuts or whether Cascadia is shutting down locations.  But Clay said some "streamlining" is coming.

Jim Clay: "We do believe that Cascadia would be best if it were to reduce some of its programs and focus on its core mission of addiction treatment and mental health."

Clay said the new executive leaders of the mental health provider will attend the hearing.  He claims despite recent turmoil, Cascadia's financial picture continues to "improve steadily."