The Advocate

As CEO of one of Southwest Florida's biggest organizations, David Schimmel administers an annual budget approaching $20 million and manages more than 400 employees. He's noted for his savvy business sense, but it's his compassion and advocacy that distinguishes him, say colleagues.

As CEO of the David Lawrence Center, Schimmel has been at the forefront of efforts to help Southwest Floridians with mental illnesses and addictions.

"He's full of integrity and compassion and that's what drives him," says Kathryn Leib-Hunter, CEO of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Collier County. "In 2003, NAMI of Collier County was named outstanding affiliate out of 1,100 in the country, and we did attribute part of that to our partnership with the David Lawrence Center and our ability to work with Dave," she says. "He's also a very intelligent person. Dave has the unique ability to always come up with creative solutions to provide quality care for the people he serves in spite of funding cuts."

David Lawrence Center has "a tremendous reputation, and a lot has to do with David Schimmel," says Barry Williams, former human services director for Collier County. When Medicare reform has threatened mental healthcare, "he's been a strong advocate in making sure people continue to get coverage."

Over the past 22 years, Schimmel, 56, has helped the center keep pace with the region's rapidly growing mental healthcare needs while lessening the nonprofit organization's dependence on shrinking government funding.

"The goal is always to get people out of the hospital as quickly as possible," says Schimmel. "Our values are independence, employment and helping people feel their lives are as normal as possible. Community-based care-going out and making sure people get what they need-is what works." That might mean working with employers to help patients find jobs, making sure a patient has transportation to work, setting up medication-management visits or even finding affordable housing for the client.

"It provides a much better outcome for much less money. And we're diverting people from other systems where these people have traditionally ended up-primarily the criminal justice system," he says.

As a graduate student, the Pensacola native visited a state hospital as part of his studies in the late 1960s, where he found deplorable conditions and poor prospects for patient recovery.

"It was a traumatic experience for me," says Schimmel. "In those days, state hospitals were pretty horrendous places. I saw people in dungeon-like rooms, lying on cement floors. There were drains in the middle of the floor so [staff] could hose everything down. I knew if I had a family member who needed help I wouldn't want them to get it there."

After earning his master's degree, Schimmel worked as a therapist and counselor, and in 1984, he became assistant director of the David Lawrence Center. He was named CEO in 1989.

Florida ranks 48th in spending per capita on mental health, yet in the past two decades, the David Lawrence Center has increased its number of separate substance-abuse and mental-health treatment programs to more than 50 and established the county's only crisis-stabilization unit. The center expects to handle more than 16,000 new cases this year.

"They fill a need that is otherwise not being met in the community," says state Rep. Dudley Goodlette of Naples. "We try to fund programs that are successful and accountable. The David Lawrence Center is emblematic of those qualities."

While most community mental-health centers in Florida receive about 80 percent of their funding from the state, state support accounted for just 44 percent of David Lawrence Center revenues last year, says Schimmel. Charging patients only what they can afford, the center has managed to increase services through the David Lawrence Foundation, fundraising events and other creative sources such as the center's Encore consignment shops.

In April, the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare presented Schimmel with the National Piepenbrink Award for Excellence in Behavioral Healthcare Management, recognizing his leadership in providing innovative treatment services and his work toward policy reform.

"David has the ability to find the most pragmatic way to solve problems, and he's not afraid to challenge the status quo," says Kevin Lewis, executive director of Southwest Florida Addiction Services in Fort Myers. "He's worked very hard in the community, identifying needs and finding supporters who can help meet those needs. That's critical these days, when funding is so limited."