There’s a famous saying that 80 percent of life is just showing up. Officials from the Colorado Department of Human Services managed to clear that low bar last week when they arrived in town for a hearing about the staffing issues at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo.

Reggie Bicha, the department’s executive director, and his team did listen as CMHIP employees vented their frustrations about the hospital’s staffing shortage. It was a nice gesture, particularly since department officials inexplicably skipped a trip to Pueblo during a summer planning tour in which they visited nine other counties across the state.

A nice gesture, but unfortunately very little has changed to improve the situation at the state hospital. Back in June, the hospital was put on notice that it was at risk of losing its federal Medicare funding because there were so many vacancies in so-called “direct care” positions.

Read more at The Pueblo Chieftain.