Suzette Chaumette, her big brother, remembers him as witty, kind, and an aspiring historian at University of California, Berkeley, whose promise was derail by mental illness. He struggled with bipolar disorder for many years, and he was often in and out hospital and halfway houses, and eventually ended up homeless.
She saw him lying on the ground, under arrest, and was alleged to have thrown a water bottle at the California Governor. Gavin Newsom. The 54-year-old man was called aggressive by authorities. It was her first encounter with him in many years.
She cried, saying, “I didn’t think he would be this guy, but he was that guy.” He’s not a bad person. He has great intentions and would accept help from anyone who was in the right position.”
California’s 161,000 homeless people are 25% of those with severe mental illnesses. A staggering 37,000 people alternate between public and nonprofit agencies, making their way through ERs, jails, and streets for decades. No one is monitoring their care in a broken system that no one knows how to fix.
Paul C. Webster is the director of Hope Street Coalition. He says that there are not enough places for people such as Serge Chaumette’s brother Suzette. These individuals will likely need long-term medical care. People with brain disorders require a variety of living arrangements that allow them to “step down” from supervision as they improve.
He says that government reimbursement is very low or nonexistent for this type of care. Medicaid will not pay for treatment at “institutions for psychological disease” with more than 16 beds.
“The public doesn’t understand. They are mad at all the people on the streets and encampments because they don’t know how to deal with it.
Meanwhile, families suffer quietly. Suzette Chaumette considered speaking to The Associated Press, but decided against it. She was talking about a private hurt that became public after a chance meeting with the top state elected official.
She said that mental health is a family problem. It is not possible to live in isolation.
Chaumette and the governor had a brief encounter in June.
Newsom, 53 years old, was visiting Oakland to promote small businesses. He was approached by “an aggressive individual”, Fran Clader spokeswoman for California Highway Patrol which provides security for Newsom. Newsom seemed unharmed and made jokes about the incident.
Chaumette was taken into custody and released the next day. His family didn’t know where he was and he doesn’t have a cellphone.
The next month, he didn’t appear in court in another case in which he was accused of spitting at an officer while being transported to a county-run mental hospital on an involuntary stand.
Jeff Chorney, Alameda County deputy Public Defender, stated Friday that Chaumette is in good health and that all charges should be dropped.
He stated in a statement that “We cannot continue treating people with mental illness by locking them inside a cage.”
Since decades, all levels of government have stopped investing in mental health. John F. Kennedy wanted state asylums to be replaced by federal community clinics. However, the transition was never made. The Treatment Advocacy Center in Virginia reported that states began to eliminate psychiatric beds and those that remain are more often reserved for criminal defendants.
While no state can meet the highest standards of care, some cities do have innovative programs. Elizabeth Sinclair Hancq is the center’s research director. New York City’s mental health clubhouse addresses social isolation. Tucson, Arizona uses a robust crisis center model for connecting people to services and bypassing jail.
Acknowledging such shortcomings, Newsom signed a $12 billion spending plan this year dedicated to homelessness, including converting motel rooms for housing and enhancing facilities for people with addiction and mental illness. California is home to more than 25% of the 580,000 homeless residents in the United States.
Newsom, a Democrat, stated that “we’ve got to accept accountability, responsibility for doing more and doing better, and this budget intends do that.”
According to mental health experts, the U.S. requires more of everything: inpatient beds, outpatient treatment, and long-term housing. This can be difficult to believe, with public health being underfunded and social workers overwhelmed, housing prices prohibitive, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Teresa Pasquini, a former Contra Costa County Mental Health Commissioner, has written about her family’s struggles to get help for her son with schizoaffective disorder. She was curious about the man who hurled a bottle at Governor Pasquini.
“Moms such as me are prone to ask, “Is that one of yours?” She said it sounds like it is. “They don’t have anywhere to go, so they are being held in jail and failing them continuously. It’s a humanitarian crisis nobody is talking about.”
Chaumette was the only child of two accountants who fled Haitian political unrest as a baby. His parents, like many immigrants, worked hard to provide a better lifestyle for him and his sisters: Catholic schooling, music lessons, and a home where his family could converse in French.
Bipolar disorder can cause dramatic changes in thought and behavior. His sister told him that he had his first manic episode when he was in his 20s. He cut up clothes and used car oil to clean the house.
“That was when my mom, my sisters, and I looked at one another and said, “This isn’t normal,” she added.
It took many years to find the right diagnosis. Her brother experienced periods of stability but it was never sustained. His sister stated that he bounced between agencies and the people who were supposed to care for him didn’t communicate with each other or left. There was also little consistency. He was enrolled at UC Berkeley from 1987 to 2003, and records show that he attempted to continue his education there.
The last time that the siblings met up was when their brother lived in an abandoned Oakland halfway house. The building was set on fire in 2017 and four people were killed. Chaumette was one of those who were made homeless in a place where the average monthly rent for an apartment was $2,700.
Sinclair Hancq, research director, stated that “the public perceives that the family threw out the individual or that they don’t care.” “The family tried.”
A Mental Health Advisory Board in Alameda County is calling for more housing and licensed beds. Lee Davis, the Chair of the Board, also suffers from bipolar disorder, said she is fortunate that she can take medication and maintains a home and a job.
Living with this disorder can also mean screaming a racial slur in an attempt to get rid of it from the universe. She may think her cats’ napping will make up her lack of sleep or smashing windows because the “inside” and the “outside” must merge.
She believes that mania should not be made a criminal offense. “Why isn’t there a number you can call to report a mental illness crisis?”
Chaumette has been in the criminal justice system for many decades. He was primarily there for misdemeanors that led to probation. Because Chaumette’s health records are confidential, it is not possible to determine what type of assistance he received from the courts.
Suzette Chaumette doubts politicians’ promises.
She said that “His life is so many more than the mental illness which has gripped him his entire life”, and that people should “see him not as a case, but as a person — that he’s been given a chance at living.”
