The repercusions of cutting MH funding - finally, somone spells it out in plain...

[slsh]

English.

http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/7...ntal-patients-in-jail-and-on-the-streets.html

I'm still amazed at the short-sightedness of this philosophy. Far more cost-effective to treat mental illness than to wait for the untreated mentally ill to commit crimes - and far more humane. I have to wonder where these kinds of cuts are going to stop - eventually there will be no more human services programs left, so will we cut education (not that SDs in IL are getting paid right now anyway)? Prison services? I'm so frustrated that our legislators cannot figure out how to balance a darn budget without harming the folks we *should* be caring for, especially since the *last* place cuts will be made will be in funding for the folks who are running this state into the darn ground (aka the decision makers in the state capitol).

 

[keista]

OMW! My BFF's brother is in Chicago. CURRENTLY he has no record, but if these cuts are really going through, he just may end up with one. He's BiPolar (BP) and mostly resides in halfway houses, but has done several long term stints at the hospitals.

 

[buddy]

Pay now or pay later. It's the truth. All kinds of cuts here too. Here one side bullied the other to cut health/human service funding again and it is always hit disproportionately to other things... every budget session. PCA rates go down every time so who is gonna work in a field where they lose money yearly? They also specifically cut relative pay for PCA's making people with difficult child's who can't find anyone who will tolerate or have the extra patience needed SOL. They cut their pay 20%! Imagine anyone keeping a job that only paid 12-14/HR in the first place and which requires intensive mental and physical labor having their salary cut several hundred a month. And knowing this will happen every legislative session ... for this session at least they excluded that cut for people who have custody and are paid caregivers. We would have literally lost our home. It was very very scary. As it is I have to visit a food shelf every now and then. So totally embarrassing when I am used to donating. The extra costs of a difficult child make this salary level a stuggle and I am NOT a shopper or someone with credit card bills. I wish they would spend a day at my home and see how his not being in a residential home is saving the state tons of money. I adopted him from the state which already makes a difference for them...(obviously not the reason I adopted, but since they only look at money...) I just wish they understood.
I follow ARC and NAMI and MN brain injury assn. ARC in particular. Like the others they have a national site so I encourage all to visit and join your local site. ARC used to be the association for retarded citizens but now they are just ARC and they advocate for all disabilities. by the way they have a lifelong advocacy program and will help you plan for guardianship and related issues. They are the only school advocates that for me, have jumped in a car and shown up at meetings. PACER is good but doesn't do that often. I write our story and concerns to everyone ARC guides me to. Not that I have much hope but for my difficult child's sake I do try.

What makes me even more crazy???? Wanting to use public monies to build a sporting stadium. Not only to build the stadium but the roads to get there are not designed to handle that traffic so it means spending millions and millions for road upgrades that would not otherwise be needed! No way you will ever convince me that public funds are needed for this and that the jobs generated will benefit MN enough to help those all around the state, whether near the stadium or hundreds of miles away, who are struggling for housing, food, and medical care right now. Heck, most of us can't even afford to go to a game and if we got free tickets, we couldn't afford the refreshments once inside. Makes me insane. Those businesses have enough money to private pay. They have enough connections to get investors and partnerships to help. AND they should pay the state to upgrade the highways. It makes me sick. They can find money for this but they can't find money to help the most vulnerable people in the state.

 

[DS3]

I think this statement at the end of it seems to cover it all:

The public in general doesn’t seem to care much about mental illness until someone goes crazy in public and shoots a dozen or more people.
Then the outcry is always, “Why didn’t someone get them some help?”
By that time, it is always too late.

It's a sad day when the public would rather ignore the problem until its a greater problem, then deal with it in the first place before it becomes that greater problem. Sadly, it is the truth though.

 

[oldmama]

I TOTALLY agree.