We must ask are costs even greater now?

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September 7, 2010

Our opinion The Moultrie Observer The Moultrie Observer Tue Sep 07, 2010, 11:07 PM EDT

| — Someone recently pointed out in a “rant and rave” entry that mental health care is somewhat of a stepchild in the big picture of health care — that because bones are not protruding or blood is not pouring from a wound, then such service is deemed interruptible when it comes right down to budgets.

Well, maybe if we’re completely honest, this assessment has merit. There are some who would point to a mental health issue and say something like, “just get over it.” What if someone pointed to your herniated disc and said, “just get over it.”

Numerous documentaries have detailed how mental health care has struggled through the ages to be accepted as a viable cause of modern medical science. At the turn of the century, mental health institutions were referred mostly in the slang as “idiot prisons.” Fortunately, modern medical science has prevailed in defining and diagnosing conditions that may be treatable with therapy and medications.

Today, we see as many advertisements for medications to treat depression as we do for arthritis. And many of us are close to someone or at least we know someone who suffers from some form of mental disorder. As well, we have come to realize that these ailments are indeed painful to those who are the patients as well as the families and friends who seek to comfort them.

The loss of our mental health center here in Moultrie is now showing up at the emergency room, is impacting local law enforcement and is illustrated in the various crime logs. The problems are real and they manifest themselves in other areas.

When it comes right down to the bottom line, we must ask ourselves if doing away with our mental health facility only shifted the costs to other agencies? And we might also ask, are those costs even greater now?

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