The Observer staff report

A private counselor has been allowed access to public funds that will help pay for services to the poor.

Judy Perkins, owner of Heart Steps Counseling, told the Union County Health and Human Services Committee Monday night that she has gained access to two funds, HMO Care Oregon and state indigent funds, both of which help pay for services to low-income people.

Perkins is a drug and alcohol treatment provider. She had asked for access through the Center For Human Development to the indigent funds earlier this year but had been denied, according to a letter written Nov. 8 by David Still, the CHDs executive director.

Still wrote, After considering your request, I have decided not to grant access at this time.

Last week, Still wrote to Perkins that he had revised his stand on allowing access to the state funds for the poor.

At the January meeting of the Union County Local Alcohol Planning Committee, your request for access to the DUII indigent fund was considered and a positive recommendation was made. This letter constitutes official notification that your request has been approved.

Perkins was licensed Nov. 1 by the state as a drug and alcohol treatment provider.

CHD contracts with Union County to provide alcohol and drug treatment. The private not-for-profit corporation is the official Union County recipient of state and federal funds and grants for public and mental health services.

Health and human services committee chairwoman Jean Rogers earlier wrote to Care Oregon asking that Perkins be granted access to those funds. Care Oregon is the HMO that serves people on the Oregon Health Plan.

CHD is responsible for writing an alcohol- and drug-treatment plan for the county, and the health and human services committee is authorized to review and recommend changes in the plan before the document is sent to the state.

The latest alcohol-drug plan is to be submitted to the state by Wednesday, but CHD spokesman Mark Kubin told the committee Monday that the plan draft was not complete and would not be available for the committees review before the deadline.

He said that the state is lenient about allowing changes in the plan after it is submitted, and told the committee that the members would receive a copy of the plan as soon as it is available.

This is an update of our existing plan, not a complete rewrite, Kubin said. The state has always been good about allowing changes along the way.

Kubin said drug and alcohol services could eventually be provided to rural, as well as La Grande, schools. CHD Prevention Coordinator Barbara Tyler will make such decisions, he said.

Wed love to be able to do more outreach, Kubin said.

Committee member Susan Spangler said early outreach and programs for younger at-risk children in outlying areas could help prevent alcohol and drug problems later.