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LANCASTER --
The availability of some local mental health services has deteriorated in
the past couple of years. Funding has been cut across the board to local
agencies and more reductions are expected later on this month.
So mental
health officials are gathering Friday to get the word out about issues
facing the mental health system in Fairfield County.
"Mental
illness affects people's lives in one way or another. It's a good idea to
know what resources are available, because a lot of people with mental
illnesses don't seek help or the resources they need," said Rick Branscome,
community education coordinator for Fairfield Mental Health Consumer
Group.
Branscome
also is president of the Lancaster Area National Alliance for Mental
Illness, another sponsor of the event.
The event is
being held as part of National Mental Health Month.
"The goal is
to make sure that everyone in our community has a sensitivity that there
are a substantial number of people in our community that struggle with
mental illnesses," said Orman Hall, executive director of the Fairfield
County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board.
"The first
step to recovery is an awareness that there's something that needs to be
recovered from," Hall said.
Out of the
state's 50 mental health systems, Lancaster ranks in the bottom 10 in
financial support, said Terry Russell, executive director of National
Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Ohio.
"We have a
lot of good people working over there (in Lancaster), but they can't meet
the need," said Russell, who will serve as the main speaker on Friday.
The county
could face disaster if this trend continues, Russell said.
"You can't
provide care unless you have the resources to bring people in to provide
treatment," he said. "What's so sad about that is treatment outcomes for
mental illness are much greater than other illnesses. We have an 80
percent success rate in treatment of major depression, and a 60 percent
success rate in treating bipolar illness and schizophrenia."
Russell said
treatment for cancer is 55 percent successful and heart ailments is in the
40 percentile range.
When people
go untreated, the costs will add up.
"If a person
isn't treated and ends up in one of the state hospitals, it will cost $452
per day, when you can treat a person in the community for less that $30 a
day," Russell said.
Educating the
public on the mental health system is critical, because many people have
misconceptions about mental illness, said Russell.
"These are
biological brain disorders," he said. "They're no different from cancer or
heart ailments. It just happens to invade the brain and because our
symptoms are so out in the public, people get a misrepresentation of what
the illnesses are."
Originally
published Thursday, May 6, 2004 |
