Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Hospital chief says state needs more mental health care beds (Alabama) Dateline Alabama story - "A Columbia hospital chief told the Mental Health Commission that the state needs to provide more beds for mentally ill patients because facilities are full. 'Open more beds and get your priorities right,' Kester S. Freeman Jr., chief executive of Palmetto Health, told commissioners Tuesday at their meeting. Last year, Freeman said, the state was 70 to 80 hospital beds short of its needs. He said the hospitals' mental patient holding rooms begin getting busier Thursdays and continue amassing patients through the weekend, peaking on Monday mornings. 'They're in the wrong place getting the wrong kind of care,' said Freeman, who blames the Department of Mental Health. 'I urge them to look at their whole philosophy of care. Deinstitutionalization doesn't work, and it's not working in this state today.' "  
  

Mental health care lacking for most children in city (Wisconsin) Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel story - "A report released today, offering the most comprehensive accounting to date of the mental health needs of Milwaukee's children, finds a glaring need for more therapists ... who cater to poor minority children. The report estimates that 37,000 children in Milwaukee County - 26,000 in the city of Milwaukee - need mental health care. Roughly 8,500 of those children come from low-income homes where mental health care is almost always lacking, the report says. "