Local News in Brief : Proposed Health Care Cuts Protested

Gilbert Toliver, holding a sign that read “Closing Mental Health Clinics Is a Crazy Thing,” said he was told that because of state budget cuts, the Hubert Humphrey Mental Health Clinic in South-Central Los Angeles might have to close. And if so, after seven years of treatment there, Toliver would have to find somewhere else to go.

Toliver and about 30 other patients and representatives of various health service agencies and organizations gathered Tuesday in front of Gov. George Deukmejian’s Los Angeles office to send the governor a Valentine’s Day message, but it wasn’t one of romance. It was a plea for compassion, asking him to “have a heart” and reconsider his proposed budget, which would cut $485 million from health and welfare services.

Toliver said he began receiving psychiatric treatment in 1982 and at first was given a barrage of prescription drugs that virtually immobilized him. Since starting group therapy at the clinic, he has been able to function without drugs, he said.