Monday, July 21, 2003
States methadone policy leads to waiting lists at clinics (Ohio) Dayton Daily News story - "Ohios resistance to increasing funding for methadone treatment has caused waiting lists to form at clinics that legally provide the substance. Critics say this has led to the growth of black-market methadone sales and an increase in the potential for overdoses."
Care of troubled kids at crossroads (Illinois) Chicago Sun-Times story - "[The] price gap between foster care and ... residential treatment is playing out not just in Illinois, but nationally. As a result, child-welfare officials in several states are scaling back the number of kids they're sending to big facilities, instead using that money to place them with foster families and surround them with daily help tending to their social, educational and, in many cases, psychiatric needs. Kids--even severely troubled ones--are responding well to that home-based form of treatment, generally known as "wraparound," experts say. A program in Milwaukee County, Wis., for example, has reduced the number of youths in residential care there from 375 in the mid-1990s to fewer than 60 now. A Bush administration mental health commission praised it in December for cutting juvenile crime and saving taxpayers millions of dollars."
Hepatitis C plagues mentally ill at rate 10 times national average KRT Wire story based on a presentation this spring at a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association - "A liver-threatening virus known as hepatitis C particularly plagues the mentally ill. And the standard treatment for the virus can fuel new mental problems or worsen existing ones. As a result, some psychiatrists - often a patient's only regular source of health care - are working to better understand their patients' treatment troubles and viral vulnerabilities."
The lure of a miracle pill for mental illness (Canada) Ottowa Citizen story on Empowerplus, a vitamin and mineral supplement from an Alberta company called Truehope that is manufactured in the US but has been banned from Canada - "Last week, Health Canada officials and RCMP experts in computer retrieval raided the offices of Truehope Nutritional Support Limited in Raymond, Alta., scooping up computer and paper files and shutting down the call centre. Phone calls and e-mails poured into the Alberta division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, where executive director Ron Lajeunesse warned that mental patients may kill themselves over the issue -- and he knew of two deaths already." See also
Health Canada is advising Canadians not to use Empowerplus and
Health Canada's actions against Empowerplus at the
Health Canada web site.
County scouts mental health beds (Oregon) Portland Tribune story - "Multnomah County mental health leaders are trying again to create what they term a "subacute" facility for patients who would otherwise end up in emergency rooms or on the streets. Although the idea is still in initial planning stages, the facility probably would accommodate 12 to 14 psychiatric patients at a time who could stay for several hours or several days, says Dr. Peter Davidson, head of the county's mental health program. Subacute patients are those who need immediate care but not necessarily hospitalization. The facility would be family-friendly, include peer counselors as well as clinical staff, and would be a dropping-off point for the county's mobile outreach workers and police."
Officials say mental health system lacks coordination July 18
MaineToday story - "Federal health and juvenile justice officials acknowledged on Thursday that mental-health services for children offer a confusing patchwork of programs with little coordination. But the officials assured a Senate panel that they would work toward greater cooperation in the future. The programs under the Department of Health and Human Services have different eligibility rules and no single source to explain them, witnesses said. If a child is detained in the juvenile justice system, the ailment that provoked the crisis might not be diagnosed or treated - and the cost increases dramatically with confinement."
Mental health efforts in peril (Maryland) Baltimore Sun story - "After nearly five years of steady growth, Howard County's Mental Health Authority has lost nearly a third of its state administrative funding, threatening help for people with mental and emotional problems and even the rent on the authority's offices."
Living in Harmony Group gives mental health patients a place to relax, socialize (Indiana) Palladium-Item story - "The Harmony Club formed in 1960 under the name "Happy Harmony Club" as a way to help former Richmond State Hospital patients adjust to living away from the hospital. It was developed at the request of the state hospital and then, as now, is sponsored by the Mental Health Association in Wayne County. It is one of the oldest support-style groups in the Richmond area."
Mental Health director says administrative error caused backlog of patients (South Carolina) Story at
The State - "An administrative mistake - not state budget cuts - at the Mental Health Department caused more than 70 mentally ill people to wait in jails for court-ordered treatment, the agency's director says. ... [D]irector George Gintoli... and other Mental Health officials had told the public, advocates and a circuit court judge that budget cuts were the reason the department was unable to admit the mentally ill inmates to its forensic unit."
