When Tina came on staff three years ago she realized the need for her services should not be limited to only those who could pay. So with the help of some community organizations and the support of the hospital administrative board she saw 50 patients per year at the hospital who were pro bono.

The final selection of those 50 patients was up to her alone. Pro Bono cases were referred to Mountain Lake from all across the U.S. A. However Tina’s selection process was really strict. Clients were rigorously screened each case file was reviewed in-depth by her personally.

First she viewed their arrest record looking at the number of times the individual has been arrested. Next she looked at the type of crimes they had committed. As well as, the number of different treatment programs the individual had participated in before arriving at Mountain Lake. All of these factors were considered when making her final decision on an individual.  However, there was one stipulation that she would not dismiss for any one and that was if a prospective patient had committed violence against an innocent individual during an episode while using.  This immediately eliminated the individual from receiving help at Mountain Lake Hospital however their slot would be offered to the victim pro bono as well.

In the past Tina had placed no such stipulation in regards to services rendered. But after having lost 2 valuable staff members last year due to patient violence against hospital staff it became a necessity in order to maintain highly qualified staff around the clock at Mountain Lake.

Arriving at work on Monday morning with her to go mug of coffee in her hand. Tina sat down at her desk and dialed the front desk asking them to hold all her calls for the morning unless it was administrative staff requesting to speak with her. She removed her jacket which matched the navy colored pencil skirt of her latest power suit and hung it on the back of her chair. Moving her glasses from the top of her head down onto the bridge of her nose she picked up the first case file in the stack of ten on the corner of her desk. Grabbing a legal pad from the top center drawer of her desk for notes of rejection to include in the file she prepared to get to work although she rejected many more cases per day than she accepted per year sifting was part of the job.