ST. PAUL – Republican Reps. Jeff Dotseth and Natalie Zeleznikar are working to save a Carlton chemical dependency and substantive abuse treatment program for women after a proposal by Gov. Tim Walz has them shutting down by July 1.
Carlton’s Community Addiction Recovery Enterprise program provides inpatient services and a safe environment for women, including those suffering trauma from abusive relationships. The governor recently proposed closing two such programs, including Carlton’s, which is the only female-only program for Direct Care and Treatment in Minnesota.
Dotseth, of Silver Township, and Zeleznikar, of Fredenberg Township, said they are working to ensure CARE Carlton’s services continue, including programming needs for civil commitments.
“The governor wants to close CARE Carlton and move its funding to other areas of mental health,” Dotseth said. “That is shocking that because last year the state spent $71 billion – an increase of 40 percent – and this could have been handled then, when we had an $18 billion surplus. CARE Carlton is a vital local resource for women, including those who are pregnant or may have experienced physical or sexual abuse, in an all-female treatment setting. It would be unacceptable to lose these important services. We are working across the aisle toward a real, bipartisan solution to keep CARE Carlton open now and into the future.”
Zeleznikar is on the House Health Human Services Finance committee and has a background in healthcare. She was in the meeting room April 9 when legislators were first informed of the plan to shut down CARE Carlton.
“Closing CARE Carlton is short-sighted,” Zeleznikar said. “Not only will we fail to provide services to people who need them, but it will have a domino effect by further straining our hospitals and the jails. Currently, jails are experiencing a 50-percent increase in civil commitments, leaving men and women behind bars as they wait for a bed to become available – which could be months. If the governor’s plan goes through, a new group of people will fall through the cracks, and that is a group of very vulnerable women. We can’t let that happen.”
Dotseth and Zeleznikar recently visited CARE Carlton to discuss this issue with staff and take a closer look at its operation.
“Our tour was so helpful, and we are fighting very hard to keep CARE Carlton open,” Zeleznikar said. “We simply can’t close a program which helps so many women simply because the majority did not make it a priority last session despite a historic surplus. This specialized treatment setting provides much-needed care, alleviates the strain placed on jails and community hospitals and must remain open to help local people with severe needs.”
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