Last week, my office hosted a State of the North County at the El Corazon Senior Center in Oceanside. I truly was amazed by the over 250 people who attended, many of whom make North County such a wonderful place to live and work. If you weren’t able to attend, I wanted to give a few of the highlights from the day.

First, we had a very special guest on-hand, Bud Roberds. Bud is a World War II veteran who just celebrated his 102nd birthday! Bud was a music teacher at Fallbrook High School and still plays the piano weekly at the Peking Wok Restaurant in Bonsall. It truly was an honor to have him on hand!

As far as my speech, I focused on many topics, including homelessness and behavioral health.

I believe that we must do a better job as a society dealing with those suffering from behavioral health issues. I am proud to say that North County is leading the way when it comes to creating Crisis Stabilization Units (CSU). A CSU is an ER for those in a mental health crisis. I’ve had families ask me, what do they do? Where can they go if they have a loved one suffering from a mental health crisis? A hospital ER is not the place for someone in a mental health crisis, but now they can go to a CSU. The County now has 5 Crisis Stabilization Units. Three of these ER’s for mental health are here in North County.

A lot has been done, but there is a lot more to be done. We will keep working and pushing that boulder up the mountain and helping those who are struggling.

There were many more topics addressed, which I can touch on in the upcoming weeks, but in the meantime, I want you to know, I am proud to work for you, proud to be a part of this region, and will always fight for North County.

Jim Desmond

– San Diego County District 5 Supervisor