News Photo by Mike Gonzalez From left, Rebekah Duhaime, Bonnie Cornelius, Patricia Przeslawski, and Judy Jones sit alongside each other for the Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health Authority board meeting on Thursday.

ALPENA — Patricia Przeslawski, an Alpena County board member for the Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health Authority Board of Directors, attended her last meeting with the board on Thursday after serving on it for 24 years.

The board recognized Przeslawski during the meeting for her decades of service and gave her a moment to reflect on her time with them.

“I’m feeling nostalgic about everyone,” Przeslawski said. “I loved hearing from others during the meetings and understanding people’s way of thinking. I heard that as a board before I came in, there was a lot of disagreement among members, but I love the board that I was a part of. Everyone worked well together and moved things along quickly. I just loved the respect everyone had for each other.”

Przeslawski said that she learned a lot while on the board and is thinking about members who passed away during her time with Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health Authority.

She also said she was happy to exercise her sense of humor with the board members.

“God’s got a great sense of humor,” Przeslawski said. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been on the board.”

Przeslawski will be replaced in the next board meeting on April 11 by Kara Bauer LeMonds, a freelance grant writer and manager who is currently working with Partners in Preventions for a four-year, 125,000 Mental Health and Awareness Training Project grant that will cover Crisis Intervention Training for first responders from Alpena, Alcona, Montmorency, and Presque Isle counties.

“I’m very curious about knowing more about the surrounding rural area and our little town of Alpena,” LeMonds said. “I want to make sure that the people we’re serving in our community are getting the best of the best, just like anybody who would live in a bigger community like Ann Arbor or Lansing.”

IN OTHER BUSINESS

The Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health Authority board on Thursday also:

∫went over the budget for January 2024. Results showed that the Authority had gone over by $204,560, but was not concerned as funding from grants and other programming will come in soon.

∫reviewed a brochure that showed results for the Authority’s 2023 customer satisfaction surveys. The results show that 90.91% of customers were satisfied with their support and help from the Authority compared to 2022’s 94.31%, a 3.4% drop. The results also showed that nearly 6% more customers felt like Authority members listened to the feedback they gave about services.

∫reviewed the number of consumers the Authority served in February. The Authority served 1,039 individuals, with 59 of them being routine services and 38 of them as crises.

∫gave recognition to Gary Nowak, who has served as a member of the board for 25 years.

∫reported what happened at the Northern Michigan Regional Entity board meeting on Feb. 28. According to Authority Executive Director Nena Sork, said that the Authority met all the requirements of performance for a community mental health authority and will receive an incentive payment from the state government for meeting the threshold.

∫reviewed the ethical code of conduct for board members, which was revised and approved by the board on March 9.

∫scheduled a nominations committee meeting for the board for April 11 at 2:30 p.m., 30 minutes before the next monthly Authority board meeting.

∫received a report from Nena Sork. Sork discussed the matter of certified community behavioral health clinics, which are state agencies that are federally required to provide nine comprehensive behavioral health services. Sork said that while behavioral health clinics seem to work in urban locations, some of the requirements to become one are not possible in a rural setting. According to Sork, requirements include response times for mental health crises within two hours, which she claims is not possible with the larger range of Northeast Michigan. Along with this issue, Sork said that the funding that the Authority would receive from becoming certified is not enough for the organization to function and is not a viable option.

∫set up the next meeting for April 11 at 3 p.m.