Monday, July 26, 2004

Homes for Special Care program does not meet needs of all residents: study
Item in CMHA/Ontario's Mental Health Notes - "Among a group of residents with schizophrenia spectrum disorders living in Homes for Special Care, more than half could live independently with intensive support while almost 40 percent require more support than they are currently receiving, according to the results of a needs assessment planning project described in Schizophrenia Bulletin. The Ontario-based Homes for Special Care program provides board and care for people who are discharged from psychiatric hospitals. According to the authors of the study, the program was designed as a custodial model and has been criticized for not changing in response to the model of recovery for people with schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses..." See also the abstract in Schizophrenia Bulletin (full text is available for a fee).  
  

Program seeks to keep patients out of ER (South Carolina)
Times and Democrat story - "Health care officials say hospitals are the not appropriate place to take mentally ill patients as the state cuts mental health funding. The Orangeburg Area Mental Health Center has applied for a grant from the South Carolina Department of Mental Health to enhance its crisis stabilization program which is designed to tackle the issue. The dual purpose of the grants is for mental health centers to implement programs to help reduce the numbers of people with mental illness waiting in local emergency departments and to reduce the number of beds used in the state's two psychiatric hospitals..."