
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 29, 1993                   TAG: 9310300272
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

SERVICES BOARD AIMING AT GREATER EFFICIENCY|

The New River Valley Community Services Board, which is facing a tightening budget while trying to improve at the same time, says it's ready to revamp its entire approach.

The plan is little more than an idea now, so specifics are scarce, but the agency wants to make better use of facilities and become more cost-efficient, said Executive Director Lynn Chenault.

The next two to three years should produce changes in how treatment groups are classified, the amount of community involvement and consolidation of facilities.

With the state facing a $500 million budget shortfall, the agency needs to prepare for a potential loss of $350,000 or more in state funding over the next two years, Chenault said. That's coupled with rising costs.

``We have to work with the dollars that we have,'' said Jean Bourne, chairwoman of the board. ``You have to set priorities.''

For example, instead of classifying cases as substance abuse- or emotional disorder-related, the agency might approach problems on an adult-group or child-services basis, Chenault said.

Often, individuals need treatment from more than one of the agency's divisions; the new order is intended to allow consumers broader,\ easier-accessed treatment.

The agency wants to become even more prevention-oriented, he said. Often, in financial crisis, ``there is a tendency to shove aside prevention services in favor of treatment, [but] that's shortsighted.

``Prevention is a better use of dollars,'' he said.

An even more obvious narrowing of approach is the possibility that the board may consolidate its facilities.

The agency uses 18 buildings, but within two to three years may reduce that to five or six, Chenault said. To offset difficulties patients in outlying areas may have in reaching the new facilities, the staff would have to become more mobile.

The 25-year-old umbrella organization has a $6.4 million budget, with 43 percent of that state-funded, Chenault said. It provides services in the fields of mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse to people in Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski counties and Radford. Last year almost 12,000 people came to it for help.

The still-to-be-discussed changes would be obvious to workers within the agency, but not to consumers, Chenault hopes.

``It's not a matter of looking at something that's not working now,'' he said. ``It's finding ways to make it work still better.''

by CNB