For nearly 40 years mental illness has been a predominating issue for my family.

My one and only beautiful and loving daughter became ill at a very early age with a life-long incurable mental illness known as schizophrenia.

In the beginning, all of the attempts that I made to find a quick cure proved fruitless.

Subsequently, her care and treatment was managed locally and she lived at home with the family. As time went on the severity of the illness worsened to a point where it became impossible for her to remain living at home. At that point in time she became a patient at the century-old Weston Hospital for the mentally ill.

Visiting her there proved to be difficult and upsetting. The building itself was in disrepair in numerous ways and treatment for her illness was primarily custodial since she and many of the other patients were treatment resistant to the medications available at that time. Living arrangements were crude and left much to be desired. The thought of leaving my beautiful daughter to live there in such dire circumstances was unbearable. Attempts to bring her home from this dreadful existence would not be successful and her confinement there continued for many years.

Eventually, newer medications became available and my daughter and many other patients were discharged back to their communities since downsizing was the order of the day even though she and some the others were not really well enough to take care of themselves and make it on their own. But this is a story for another time!

Finally, the William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital, which would be located nearby, replaced the century-old Weston Hospital. It provides excellent state-of-the-art treatment for the mentally ill but within a short time the increasing demand for treatment would exceed its ability to provide service for all who needed it; a situation that still prevails today.

My memories of Weston Hospital are painful and depressing. The crude amenities and living arrangements that patients experienced there were deplorable at best. My daughter and family have put this unpleasant memory behind us and look to the future for a cure for mental illness.

These memories are shared not to elicit sympathy, but rather to contrast my recollections of the historic Weston Hospital to the atmosphere that exists there today. I was shocked and dismayed as I read the recent article in the Sunday News-Register, written by Vicki Smith of The Associated Press, about the former Weston Hospital that, in my opinion, brings to light a circus-like atmosphere that demeans the memory of all the patients who were ever confined there.

The renamed “Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum”and trails called “Psycho Path” and events such as “Kooky Christmas” are a personal insult to former patients and their families just as much as the “N” word is offensive to the African-American community and the word “RETARD” is offensive to the intellectually disabled family advocates.

In a crude attempt at humor, T-Shirts are being marketed, advertised on their website, depicting a cartoon character wearing a strait jacket on the front with a caption “I went nuts at —–” and on the back of the shirt the name “Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum” with a drawing of the facility. Also on the shirt are reasons for admission October 22,1864 to December 12, 1889 listing sexual derangement, self abuse, masturbation for 30 years, nymphomania, immoral life, bad company, laziness, worms, deranged masturbation, parents were cousins plus 10 more ridiculous assertions that are more than outrageous. In my opinion this the most deplorable example of arrogant bad taste that I have encountered in all the years that I have been an advocate for the mentally ill.

Every citizen of West Virginia should be revolted by the poor choice of marketing tactics used to promote business at the former Weston Hospital.

The Lewis County Convention and Visitors Center and the Weston business community in general should be ashamed to co-sponsor a business that admittedly is unconcerned about the objections of mental health advocates who oppose the promotional tactics that are considered stigmatizing to the mentally ill. The Weston community should demand that this business clean up its act and get in step with the rest of the nation in realizes mental illness is no laughing matter.

Individuals interested in this subject are invited to attend the next NAMI meeting, Feb. 28

Information is available by calling 304-242-6587 or 304-547-5222

Guest columnist McCloskey is an advocate for the mentally ill and a member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Greater Wheeling.

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JUNO BEACH, Fla., Feb 13, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
DSS,
Inc., the leading provider of software development and support of
VistA, today announced a new Mental Health (MH) Kiosk solution that
allows behavioral health hospitals to capture clinical information and
foundational psychological evaluations directly from patients during
check-in.

The MH Kiosk serves as a second phase in DSS’ efforts to develop
customized EHR software that addresses the distinctive note-taking and
interdisciplinary treatment needs of behavioral healthcare providers.
This new solution is a complement to the existing DSS Mental Health
Suite, an EHR module, which is implemented nationally in all 152 of the
Department of Veterans Affairs’ Medical Centers and in several large
mental health hospital systems.

“We envision an integrated behavioral healthcare system that ensures the
utmost in patient safety and personalized care from the moment someone
walks in the door,” said Mark Byers, president and CEO of DSS. “The MH
Kiosk offers patients a private, simplified approach to providing
personal information before they see their doctor — a logical next step
in our efforts to support integrated behavioral healthcare.”

The MH Kiosk provides native and customizable features that were
designed specifically to assist patients that have physical hardships,
cognitive disabilities and limited literacy — for an overall improved
patient experience. Features include:

–
Touch-screen guidance and audio capabilities, allowing patients to
easily complete clinical data “paperwork” upon arrival to an
appointment;

–
On-the-spot behavioral self-assessments, offering patients an instant
analysis of the data and printed educational materials to review; and

–
Administrative management of the kiosk that gives the controller the
ability to select the most appropriate assessments for each patient.

The entire process is electronic, automatically capturing and
transferring all collected data to the patient’s digital record. The
software integrates seamlessly with the VA’s VistA/CPRS systems and
vxVistA. The information is then available in real-time to providers,
helping to guide more personalized exams and discussions.

To learn more about the Mental Health Kiosk and view a demonstration,
visit
http://dssinc.com/mh_kiosk.html .

About DSS

Document Storage Systems, Inc. (DSS) develops and supplies integrated
enhancements to the Veterans Affairs VistA system and specializes in
healthcare IT solutions that improve quality and productivity. The
organization also designs applications that are compatible with the
Indian Health Services RPMS and the Department of Defense’s healthcare
systems.

To foster the adoption of open source in healthcare organizations, DSS
is a founder and supporter of a community-driven, collaboration
environment Web site,
www.vxVistA.org
that acts as a forum for discussion and best practices among open source
vxVistA and VistA EHR users internationally. For more information on
DSS, Inc., visit
www.dssinc.com .

SOURCE: DSS, Inc.

        For DSS, Inc.
        Dodge Communications
        Leslie Kirk, 770-576-2576
        lkirk@dodgecommunications.com

Copyright Business Wire 2012

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Psychologists across the country have grappled for years with a thorny problem: While every demographic group has mental health problems, certain groups tend not to seek treatment.

Now, Sacramento County is using an infusion of state cash to try to close that gap locally.

The county Department of Health and Human Services has contracted community agencies across the county – one for each of eight specific ethnic or age groups – to evaluate what mental health services those groups need and what obstacles block them from getting help.

In the next 30 months, those agencies will use the evaluation results to try to build programs that better meet those needs.

The initiative also includes a “warm line,” a phone number established several months ago that people can call when they need support or information but aren’t necessarily in crisis.

While the immediate goal is to get more residents the treatment they need, the county ultimately aims to reduce the number who attempt or commit suicide.

“We really want to provide choices for people, so that they will feel comfortable accessing our services in the way that they feel is appropriate for them, their family and their community,” said Jo Ann Johnson, cultural competence and ethnic services manager for the county’s behavioral health services.

The initiative will cost $1.6 million this fiscal year and a similar amount in years to come, all from the state Mental Health Services Act. California voters approved the law in 2004 to enhance services through a 1 percent tax on personal income over $1 million.

The Sacramento effort targets groups that data show tend not to either seek or stick with treatment: Latinos; Hmong, Vietnamese and Cantonese speakers; Slavic and Russian-speaking residents; youths transitioning from adolescence to early adulthood; older adults; African Americans; American Indians; and college-age youths.

The county offers outpatient counseling and inpatient care for residents who have major psychological disorders, such as schizophrenia or severe depression, and have Medi-Cal or no medical insurance.

In 2009, only about 6.4 percent of the residents eligible for Medi-Cal used the county’s mental health services.

That percentage plummeted to 3.9 for Hispanics, 3.5 for Asians, and 3.4 for people age 60 and older. County officials suspect many more needed help but didn’t seek it.

The local rates of mental health care for Asians, Indians, blacks, whites, and seniors fall well below the average for other large California counties.

Suicide rates themselves aren’t the reason for the new county program. Data from the National Institutes of Mental Health indicate that suicide is substantially less frequent among blacks, Latinos and Asians – around 5 or 6 suicides per 100,000 people – than among whites, whose rate is over 13.

American Indians and Alaska natives have the highest rates of all, at more than 14 suicides per 100,000.

Sacramento County is targeting suicide prevention, Johnson said, because in planning sessions for how to spend state MHSA dollars, community members ranked it as a major concern.

County officials believe the disparities in care stem from the fact that, in mental health services, one size does not fit all.

“The mental health system historically has been developed on a European model of treatment,” Johnson said. “We find that that model doesn’t always work well with cultural, racial and ethic groups, because of differences in beliefs and experiences.”

African Americans, for instance, tend to cycle in and out of treatment quickly, which Johnson believes is because the services don’t satisfy them.

So in the African American community, the county’s contractors are working to launch a program of “kitchen table talks,” where family members and neighbors gather to eat and talk with a counselor about issues of concern.

“For some groups, that’s much more natural and comfortable than coming to your local mental health agency,” said Johnson.

There are other cultural barriers. For example, whereas U.S. clinicians naturally focus counseling on the individual, people who come from more collectivist cultures may need treatment that involves the patient’s family and community, said Nolan Zane, a psychologist and chair of Asian American Studies at Davis.

Research has consistently shown that Asian Americans “drastically underutilize” mental health services, he added. Negative views of mental illness are prevalent in many Asian cultures, both in Asia and the United States, and that can make it feel shameful for people to admit they’re distressed and need help, Zane said.

Also, mental illness may look different in people from different cultures, said Zane.

While Western medicine tends to see mental and physical disorders separately, East Asian cultures view health holistically. So people from those cultures tend to express their psychological problems more through physical symptoms such as pain and fatigue, Zane said.

Those variations may make it harder to spot mental illness in certain groups of people, he added. And even if they get into treatment, cultural divides could make them feel that Western-style counseling isn’t helping them.

If a patient complains of a headache and the doctor responds, “Do you think the headache is due to the fight you had with your husband?” Zane explained, “That’s a reason why they may leave treatment early or politely stop coming.”

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

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