Archive for » September 10th, 2012«

10 Sep 2012

US officials launch new strategy to prevent suicide


Mon Sep 10, 2012 7:37pm IST

* Military veterans’ mental health a top priority

* U.S. to spend $55.6 mln in grants for prevention programs

* Effort includes Facebook service, media campaign, PSAs

By Susan Heavey

WASHINGTON, Sept 10 (Reuters) – A new nationwide strategy to
prevent suicides, especially among U.S. military veterans and
younger Americans, will tap Facebook Inc as part of a
community-driven push to report concerns before someone takes
their own life.

The new Facebook service will allow users to report
suicidal comments they see online from friends. The website will
then send the potential victim an email urging them to call the
hotline as well as chat confidentially online with a counselor.

“All too often, people in crisis do not know how – or who -
to ask for help,” Facebook Global Vice President for Public
Policy Marne Levine said in a statement. “We have a unique
opportunity to provide the right resources to our users in
distress, when and where they need them most.”

The effort, announced on Monday, is the first new plan in
more than a decade to address what officials say is a growing
public health issue and aims to curb deaths over 10 years.

“It takes the entire community to prevent suicides. It’s not
just one individual,” U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin told
Reuters. “We call can play a role.”

The plan, which also includes $55.6 million in grant funding
for suicide prevention programs, will be released in Washington
by Benjamin, U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Army
Secretary John McHugh.

Suicide is a growing concern and already kills more than
twice as many people on average as homicide, officials said.

On average, about 100 Americans die each day after taking
their own lives, officials said. More that 8 million U.S. adults
seriously thought about suicide in the last year, according to
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

U.S. officials are also seeking to increase awareness in
other media outlets with several new public service
announcements to promote the national suicide prevention line,
which is 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Of particular concern is the nation’s 23 million veterans.

President Barack Obama has made caring for those who have
served in the military a top concern, including tackling mental
illness, but it has been a struggle.

Despite his administration’s efforts so far to expand
prevention efforts for veterans, including beefing up a special
hotline, the number of suicides appear to be growing. There were
17,754 suicide attempts among veterans last year – about 48 a
day – up from 10,888 in 2009, data from the Department of
Veterans Affairs showed.

“Suicide is one of the most challenging issues we face,”
McHugh said in a statement. “In the Army, suicide prevention
requires soldiers to look out for fellow soldiers. We must
foster an environment that encourages people in need to seek
help and be supported.”

The last major U.S. plan tackling suicide was in 2001.

Since then, there has been more research and data about
suicide and who is most at risk, as well as the best strategies
to reach those people, Surgeon General Benjamin said.

“We now know what we didn’t know 15 years ago – or we didn’t
understand – which is that suicide is preventable. So prevention
is where we’re focusing now,” she said.

“We didn’t really talk about suicide much,” Benjamin said.
“We didn’t bring up the idea of suicide. We were afraid it might
give someone a new idea. Now we know that it’s important to ask
‘Have you have suicidal thoughts?’ or ‘Are you thinking about
suicide?’ and say if you are, there are ways to get help.”

Overall, any new effort that might encourage people to talk
about how they are feeling would help, especially if trained
experts can quickly reach those at risk, said Cheryl Sharp, who
tried to commit suicide nine times between the ages of 13 and
24.

“If you’re putting that out on Facebook, you’re saying ‘I am
desperate, and I need help,’ but you may not be able to make the
phone call,” said Sharp, now 55 and a special adviser on
trauma-informed services at the National Council for Community
Behavioral Healthcare, which represents state and local mental
health organizations.

“You don’t wait until someone says I want to die. There are
things that lead up to that,” she said. “There is some way to
make some kind of connection, and it’s an online connection. I
think it’s good.”


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10 Sep 2012

‘Donations run India’s political parties, sources largely unknown’

New Delhi, Sep 10 — Donations make a major part of the funds on which political parties run in India, but most of these parties do not disclose the names of those who contribute hefty funds, said think-tanks Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch.

As per data collected by the think-tanks, the Congress, which presently heads the central government, is the richest of all, followed by rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Both Congress and BJP have, however, defended taking donations.

The think-tanks said that even though donations formed a bulk of the income of the political parties, very few of them revealed the sources of donations.

In the last seven years, between financial years 2004-05 and 2010-11, Congress’s earning was Rs.2,008 crore, followed by the BJP with Rs.994 crore.

The incomes have increased over years. Congress in 2004-05, when it won elections, earned Rs. 22,207 lakh. In 2005-06, its income was Rs.16,936 lakh, and went up to Rs.22,081 lakh in 2007-08, Rs.46,757.87 lakh in 2009-10, and Rs.30,708.87 lakh in 2010-11.

BJP’s earning in 2004-05 was Rs.10,412 lakh and in 2010-11, it had risen to Rs.16,800.92 lakh.

Following the two national parties is the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with income, for this period, of Rs.484 crore, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Rs.417 crore and the Samajwadi Party Rs.279 crore.

There is also no standardisation for the format of declaring income. Congress distributes its income under three heads, sale of coupons (74 percent), donations (14 percent) and interest (12 percent) for its income from 2009-11.

BJP says, from 2009-11, it earned through voluntary contribution (81 percent), interest (7.5 percent) and Aajiwan Sahyog Nidhi (11.5 percent).

National coordinator for the think-tanks Anil Bariwal says these political parties have disclosed very few names of the contributors.

“It is mandatory for political parties to declare donations above Rs.20,000. But very few of them declare where they got the donation from,” he said.

“But mostly political parties do not disclose where they got the donation from. Someone says we earned crore of rupee by selling coupons, some show crores of income and say they did not have a single contribution which was more than Rs.20,000,” he said.

Contributions by those who make donations above Rs.20,000 and disclose their names form a very small percentage of the total income of political parties, he said.

For financial years 2009-10 and 2010-11, the BJP’s donations from named donors amounted to 22.76 percent of the total income.

The Congress, during this period, showed a mere 11.89 percent of their income from contributions by named donors, followed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with 4.64 percent and the CPI-M 1.29 percent. The BSP declared that it had not received any donations above Rs.20,000.

Defending the practice, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said there is nothing “illegal or unethical” in receiving donations.

He also added that any detailed comment will be made only after they go through the report.

BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain said the party received funds through party workers in “transparent system of fund collection”.

The study has been done on the basis of data collected through Right to Information (RTI) applications.

The think-tank now said it was now planning to approach the Election Commission with the information, and seek strict monitoring of income and sources for political parties.

IANS



This article was distributed through the NewsCred Smartwire.

Original article © IANS / Daily News 2012


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10 Sep 2012

Second Charity Refuses Donations from Navy SEAL Author

A second charity is refusing to accept donations from former Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette, author of the bestelling book No Easy Day about the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, The Atlantic Wire has confirmed. The decision by the charities could loom large if the government takes legal action against Bissonnette.

On Friday, the Navy SEAL Foundation refused to accept proceeds from the sale of the book No Easy Day citing Pentagon accusations that the author leaked classified information about the mission to kill Osama bin Laden. Today, Patt Dossett, director of the Tip of the Spear Foundation, tells The Atlantic Wire his charity is following suit. “We are not accepting proceeds from the sale of this book,” he said, noting that the organization’s ability to help SEAL veterans and families “is based upon a level of trust placed in us … The Foundation takes very seriously the protection of the men and the mission.” Meanwhile, a third Navy SEAL charity, the All in All the Time Foundation, tells the Virginia Pilot it hasn’t yet decided if it will accept Bissonnette’s money. Those three organizations make up the entirety of charitable groups cited by Bissonnette in his book as worthy of receiving financial support. “Help me raise millions of dollars for these organizations,” Bissonnette writes in the book’s last chapter. 

The reason the charities’ decisions matter is because from day one Bissonnette has said the “majority” of the book’s proceeds would go to charities that support Navy SEALs.  It was a move that was both admirable and savvy given the Pentagon’s threat of seizing the book’s proceeds. It was inevitable that if the Pentagon decided to bring legal action against Bissonnette, critics would decry the Obama administration for seizing money intended for injured Navy SEAL veterans and their families. Now the Defense Department can cite the prominent SEAL charities that distanced themselves from Bissonnette should such a controversy arise.

So does Bissonnette have a backup plan if his third charity decides to abandon him? We reached out to his publisher Dutton, an imprint of Penguin, which has been speaking for Bissonnette. Spokeswoman Christine Ball said Bissonnette had no need for a backup plan, referring to him under his penname Mark Owen. “Mark is giving the majority of the proceeds from his book to charity but he has never said where,” she said. “The three charities in the back of the book are just places he suggest readers donate if they want to help.” While true it seems unlikely that Bissonnette wasn’t planning on donating to the three charities given that no other ones were mentioned in his book or elsewhere. Regardless, whoever gets the cash, there’s likely to be plenty of it. The book has skyrocketed to the top of e-Books and Amazon.com bestseller lists coming off a spate of media attention and last night’s appearance on 60 Minutes.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments
or send an email to the author at
jhudson at theatlantic dot com.

You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.



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10 Sep 2012

Mental health:Breaking the taboo

Later this week the House of Commons will debate a new law to remove the last remaining form of discrimination still enshrined in law.

At present, our law reinforces the outdated prejudice that recovery from mental ill health is not possible. That is wrong and we urgently need to put it right. 

The Mental Health Discrimination Bill coming before MPs on Friday will repeal archaic and discriminatory laws.

It will send an important message to all employers that unfair discrimination against people with mental ill health has no place in modern Britain.

More broadly, if people with experience of mental ill health can play a full part in public life, our Parliament, companies and courts will all be richer and fairer places for it and, in time, society’s wider understanding of mental health will be greatly enhanced.

Twenty-first century living demands levels of emotional and mental resilience that our parents and grandparents never needed.

Yet our national stiff-upper-lip tendency not to talk openly about mental health might help to explain why our public services are designed for the 20th century rather than the 21st.

When the NHS was set up, life was different. People faced physical risks – disease or accidents at work – but lived in more close-knit communities.

Working underground exposed people to coal dust, explosions and accidents, and people had no choice but to lock arms, look out for each other and face the dangers together. That is how it was – and that spirit of solidarity was carried over into the streets above.

But life in the 21st century is a reverse of the 20th – physically safer but emotionally harder.

We are living longer, more stressful and isolated lives and coping with constant change. Yet the NHS does not reflect that new reality.

Essentially it remains a postwar production-line model focused on episodic physical care – the stroke, the hip replacement, the cataract – rather than the whole person. That is the issue to confront.

How can a subject that is so central to the big public policy challenges we face as a country still exist on the fringes, getting so little air time and attention?

We are reluctant to talk about mental health as much as we should. But we are all, as a country, beginning to wake up from our complacency.

Labour sees the mental health challenge as central to health policy.

I shared the complacency until several years ago when I spent a day work-shadowing an outreach team.

I will never forget what I was told about the early 1990s, when the mines closed and GP referrals for support were piling up on clinic desks.

There was simply no support to offer people and that lay behind the social collapse in those mining communities, they said.

People facing difficult times were given no help.

Later it was Lord Bradley’s report into mental health problems and learning that further challenged my thinking.

I will never forget reading that approximately 70 per cent of young people in the criminal justice system have an undiagnosed or untreated mental health problem.

If that is not enough to shock us into action, frankly nothing will.

The demands of the modern and ageing society require a change in how we provide health and social care.

We need a whole-person approach that combines not only the physical but the mental and social, if we are to give people the quality of life that we desire for our own families. Mental health must move from the margins to the centre of the NHS.

Mental health services are still the poor relation in the NHS. How can it be that an issue that causes so much suffering and costs our society so much still accounts for only a fraction of the NHS budget?

We also have to consider the separateness of mental health within the NHS.

This has deep social roots – the asylum, the separate place where people with mental health problems were treated, the accompanying stigma and suspicion about what went on behind those four walls.

Essentially, we still have the same system in the NHS, with separate organisations providing services on separate premises.

That maintains the sense of a divide between the two systems and raises a huge health inequalities issue.

On average people with severe mental health problems die 20 years earlier than those without. It is partly explained by the separateness within our system.

If someone is labelled a mental health patient, they are treated in the mental health system, and consequently their physical health needs are neglected.

We need to put both services within the same hospital as part of the culture change needed in the NHS.

The other part of that change is that doctors dealing with mental health should not just reach for medication, rather than social or psychological interventions.

In 2009 the NHS issued nearly 40 million prescriptions for anti-depressants – almost twice as many as 10 years earlier, with a noticeably sharp increase during the financial crisis.

Psychological therapies may give GPs an alternative to medication but as many as a third of doctors are unaware of services for patients beyond medication.

This tells us that we still have quite a long way to go.

Currently a person who has had a serious breakdown and has been sectioned is barred from being an MP, a juror or a company director.

It sends out a message that recovery is not possible, a message that we might have put out about cancer in the ’50s or ’60s – “Once you have had it, it is a black mark. That’s it, you’re finished.” We urgently need to change that.

On Friday Parliament must take the lead. We must change the law to reflect the potential for recovery, challenge attitudes and bring the change in services we need.

The Mental Health (Discrimination) Bill is a private member’s Bill presented by Gavin Barwell, Conservative MP for Croydon Central. The Bill has cross-party support and is also supported by Mind, Rethink Mental Illness and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.


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10 Sep 2012

Mental-health care solutions for veterans

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has proposed opening military Tricare networks of civilian health care providers to veterans who can’t get timely mental health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Tricare networks currently exist to provide health care to military personnel and retirees, their families and survivors.

Two days after Romney’s pledge, President Barack Obama signed an executive order with several new initiatives to improve access to mental health care services for veterans, service members and their families.

One directs the VA and the Department of Health and Human Services to establish at least 15 pilot programs involving community-based health providers to expand mental health services in areas not well served by the VA. Another establishes an interagency task force on military and veterans’ mental health co-chaired by the VA, Defense Department and HHS.

Not mentioned is an initiative to allow the VA to refer veterans in need of immediate mental health care to Tricare network. But Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said the Romney idea has real merit. The former Massachusetts governor unveiled it in a speech recently to the American Legion conference in Indianapolis.

Miller, in an interview, suggested Romney’s notion is a reasonable step on a path Miller wants to travel — giving veterans more access to private sector health care, at VA expense, rather forcing them to commute long distances to a VA facility or to endure long delays to get a VA appointment.

Romney’s idea, Miller said, would swiftly address the VA’s shortage of mental health care providers — to treat post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury and the epidemic of suicides among veterans — by immediately doubling the number of available mental health care providers.

The VA in April announced plans to hire 1,600 more mental health care providers and 300 support staff. But Miller is skeptical that the VA can do so in a timely way, given that it already had 1500 vacancies for mental health providers when it announced the new hiring effort.

“If you can’t fill those 1,500,” Miller said from his Florida district Thursday, “it’s hard to imagine that the VA would be able to double that number and be able to hire them any quicker. Their hiring process is more than cumbersome. It takes a tremendous amount of time … and in many cases, (applicants) are being lost to the private sector because they just can’t wait for the VA to make a decision.”

The VA already has authority to refer patients to civilian providers when they can’t get timely care inside the VA. But it has used this authority sparingly to hold down costs.

Some veterans’ service organizations worry that forcing the VA to spend a larger share of its budget on care delivered by private sector physicians will drive up costs and, over time, leave the VA without enough operating dollars or patients to sustain a full service, high quality health system.

“It costs VA more money to act as an insurer (than as) a provider,” said Joseph Violante, legislative director for Disabled American Veterans. “VA has the authority to use contract care when needed. Unfortunately, they rarely believe it’s necessary. They need to find a balance that won’t force VA to ration care to those using the system.”

Miller knows why some veterans groups oppose pulling more patients out of the VA health system to get VA-funded care elsewhere. But with the number of veterans needing care, and the shortage of VA providers, Miller said, he hopes veterans groups are more willing now to consider expansion of health care options.

With Tricare networks, he added, fee discounts have already been negotiated with providers. Also many veterans know and trust Tricare networks from their years in service.

“Obviously, under Gov. Romney’s proposal, the veteran would go to VA first,” he added. Only if the VA could not provide timely care, would the patient be referred to Tricare.

“We’ve got veterans waiting 50 to 60 days to see a doctor in regards to their mental health and well being and that clearly is not working,” Miller said. As veterans reach out, he added, “they need the help then, not down the road.”

Miller predicted that the three companies responsible for running provider networks for Tricare in its separate North, South and West regions would “seamlessly transition” into providing care to veterans.

Officials at Tricare headquarters had no immediate comment.

Retired Rear Adm. Thomas Carrato, president of Health Net Federal Services, Tricare’s support contractor for its 23-state North Region, said the North Region, with more than 50,000 behavioral-health care providers, is ready to care for more veterans who can’t otherwise get timely care.

He noted that Health Net has had a separate support contract for the Military Family Life Counseling Program, resulting in a network of more than 5,200 licensed counselors “who have been carefully selected, are fully trained, and ready to deploy on short notice as needed.”

To address VA’s “dramatically increasing need for veterans health care, particularly behavioral health care,” Carrato suggested a multi-prong approach. One would be for VA to acquire “standby capacity to address urgent, short-term demand” at VA medical centers and outpatient clinic, similar to the model the Department of Defense has used with Health Net to provide rapid deployment of behavioral health resources to military units during deployment or on return of deployed units.

A second prong would be a network of community-based providers to augment VA capacity and deliver care to veterans who do not live near a VA medical center or clinic. “Since this capacity already exists, providers could be made available for service relatively quickly,” Carrato said.

Violante worries that as VA dollars are shifted to pay Tricare physicians or other private sector providers, overall VA budgets won’t expand to keep pace. Instead, funds to operate the VA health care system will fall.

“It will be another vicious cycle of costing more for care, and of Congress telling us they won’t be able to give us as much money as they have been,” he predicted.

To comment, write Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, or send email to milupdate@aol.com.


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10 Sep 2012

Surge in Donations Lifts Obama Over Romney in August

President Obama and Democrats report raising more than $114 million for 2012 campaign in August, marking their best fundraising month of the election cycle and outpacing rival Mitt Romney for the first time in three months.

The Obama campaign announced the figure on Twitter ahead of formally filing financial reports with the Federal Election Commission by Sept. 20.

Read more about  August fundraising totals.

The August total, which includes funds collected by the president’s campaign committee, Democratic National Committee and joint fundraising accounts, is a significant increase over the $75 million raised by the groups in July.  Romney reported raising $111 million in August.

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina credited a surge in grassroots donations for the strong showing.

“The key to fighting back against the special interests writing limitless checks to support Mitt Romney is growing our donor base, and we did substantially in the month of August,” Messina said in a statement.

“Fueled by contributions from more than 1.1 million Americans donating an average of $58 — more than 317,000 who had never contributed to the campaign before — we raised a total of more than $114 million,” he said. “That is a critical downpayment on the organization we are building across the country — the largest grassroots campaign in history.”

The Obama campaign said last week that more than 3.1 million Americans have donated to the president’s re-election effort, surpassing the total of four years ago.

The average donation last month was $58, the campaign said.  Ninety-eight percent of donations were $250 or less.

“No celebrating,” tweeted @BarackObama in response to the numbers, “because they’re going to have an even bigger September. But now we know we can match them, doing this our way.”


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10 Sep 2012

Gallatin charities reach out to Hispanic community

Immigration Series - Services for Latinos

Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez/Chronicle

Immigration Series – Services for Latinos

Esther “Tey” Noe, a resource advisor at Community Health Partners in Belgrade, poses for a portrait on Aug. 31 at her office. Noe, who is originally from the state of Aguascalientes in Mexico and is now a U.S. citizen, helps with patients who do not speak English and advises them on finding help for employment and health programs in the area to allow undocumented immigrants to get their footing after arriving in the U.S.

Esther “Tey” Noe remembers one Mexican farmworker who came to Community Health Partners’ low-cost medical clinic in Belgrade after badly injuring his knee.

The farmworker, in his 30s, had fallen at the Gallatin Valley ranch where he’d worked for four years without legal papers. He couldn’t walk, couldn’t work or earn money to send back to Mexico to feed his wife and children.

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10 Sep 2012

South Carolina Department of Mental Health Improves Patient Adherence to Psychiatric Treatment by Nearly 200%, Reduces …

SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

Polycom,
Inc. (PLCM), the global leader in open standards-based
unified communications, today announced that the South Carolina
Department of Mental Health (SCDMH) has expanded the telepsychiatry
consultation program for community hospital emergency departments it
first implemented on the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform in
2010 to 21 hospitals throughout the state. The program, which originally
connected 15 hospitals, has enabled SCDMH psychiatrists to conduct more
than 12,100 rapid consultations with patients in hospital emergency
departments, reducing the cost per treatment episode by over $1,800 for
a total taxpayer savings of more than $21.7 million.

Rapid Intervention and Community-based Care Improving Outcomes and
Reducing Unnecessary Rehospitalizations

“Our telepsychiatry consultation program is focused on accelerating the
initial treatment for patients to improve health outcomes and reduce the
length of hospitalizations,” said Ed Spencer, Director of SCDMH’s
Telepsychiatry Consultation Program. “This enhances the treatment
experience for patients and their families, and it provides significant
cost savings for taxpayers by shifting more treatment to outpatient
care. Polycom video solutions help us achieve our emphasis on
community-based care and our ongoing efforts to reduce
rehospitalizations.”

Prior to the launch of the telepsychiatry consultation program, the
average mental health emergency-department admittance resulted in a
five-to-six day hospital stay. Today, 43 percent of patients are
discharged the same day they enter the hospital. Moreover, the early
psychiatric intervention has helped increase adherence to
post-hospitalization outpatient care programs by nearly 200 percent.

Polycom Immersive Video Enhances Consults with HD Detail of Patient
Symptoms

“The use of Polycom’s HD video is one of the keys to our system’s
performance,” said Brenda Ratliff, MD, Program Medical Director. “While
the verbal interaction between doctor and patient is very important
during a psych consult, the non-verbal cues can be even more important.
Psychiatrists can learn a tremendous amount by looking for subtle
indicators, such as lack of eye contact, abnormal movement, or enlarged
pupils. HD video is helping us provide the best possible treatment for
our patients.”

In addition, the reliability and ease of use of the Polycom solutions
are key factors in the program’s success, noted Robert L. Bank, SCDMH
Medical Director. “We don’t need to spend much time training our
doctors,” he said. “The environment is intuitive and our solution is
essentially turn-key. It works very well.”

The program’s success has led to plans for further expansion, with the
number of participating hospitals slated to increase from 21 to 30 in
2012, and the availability of telepsychiatry services scheduled to move
from 16 hours per day to 24/7. Eight other states have contacted SCDMH
to gather information about rolling out similar services.

SCDMH has installed Polycom RealPresence Desktop Systems – HDX® 4000 in
the physicians’ offices and wireless, high-definition Polycom®
Practitioner Carts™ in the patients’ rooms at participating hospitals.
Natural, crisp conversations can occur even when multiple parties are
speaking, and Constant Clarity™ technology, protects voice and video –
even during packet loss scenarios on crowded networks. The carts can be
moved nearly anywhere in an emergency department where a patient is
waiting. In addition, the South Carolina Department of Mental Health
uses the Polycom RealPresence Platform – the most interoperable and
comprehensive software infrastructure for universal video collaboration
– to power their video delivery.

About the South Carolina Department of Mental Health

The South Carolina Department of Mental Health serves approximately
100,000 citizens with mental illness, approximately 30,000 of whom are
children and adolescents. The Department provides care via an
outpatient, community-based system, comprising 17 community mental
health centers, four psychiatric hospitals, three veterans’ nursing
homes, and one community nursing home.

Polycom Delivers Transformative Solutions for Healthcare

Healthcare organizations the world over are turning to Polycom video
collaboration solutions to transform how they learn, teach, and deliver
care. Polycom solutions eliminate the distances between patients and
caregivers, between physicians and educators, and between medical
facilities. Eight of the top 10 hospitals worldwide are Polycom
customers, using Polycom technology to reduce patient evaluation times,
treat patients remotely, improve medical education, enhance caregiver
productivity and quality of life, streamline hospital operations, reduce
costs, and ultimately save lives.

About Polycom

Polycom is the global leader in open standards-based unified
communications (UC) solutions for voice and video collaboration, trusted
by more than 415,000 customers around the world. Polycom solutions are
powered by the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform,
comprehensive software infrastructure and rich APIs that interoperate
with the broadest set of communication, business, mobile and cloud
applications and devices to deliver secure face-to-face video
collaboration in any environment. Polycom and its ecosystem of over
7,000 partners provide truly unified communications solutions that
deliver the best user experience, highest multi-vendor interoperability,
and lowest TCO. Visit www.polycom.com
or connect with us on Twitter,
Facebook,
and LinkedIn
to learn how we’re pushing the greatness of human collaboration forward.

© 2012 Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved. POLYCOM®, the Polycom logo,
and the names and marks associated with Polycom’s products are
trademarks and/or service marks of Polycom, Inc. and are registered
and/or common law marks in the United States and various other
countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.


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10 Sep 2012

Commentary: Mental health recovery is a splendid thing

September is National Mental Health Recovery Month.

When it comes to the identification, treatment preventionand recovery from mental health and substance abuse disorders, we all need to step up our game. This month is an opportunity to do just that.

With a lifetime of experience in mental health and substance abuse services behind him, thenewstatedirector of theCommunity HealthDepartment,Jim Haveman,said, “Mental health services and addiction treatment are key elements for people on the road to recovery. People in recovery achieve healthy lifestyles, both physically and emotionally, and contribute in positive ways to their communities.”

Behavioral health is critical to overall health and wellness. We know that prevention and treatment work and that recovery, just as with other health conditions, is possible.

Recoverymonth is a national observance for educatingAmericans aboutaddiction treatment and mental health servicesand how these canenable those with mental health and/or substance abuse disordersto live healthy and rewarding lives. Thousands of citizens across Michigan are using recovery-oriented treatment and peer support services to help them live healthy and meaningful lives in their homes communities.

We need to rally together to stop the stigma that follows these diseases and assure people withtheseproblemsthat they can receivetreatment and support needed for recovery and leadtheir liveswith dignity.

Dr. Mark Reinstein,president and CEO of Michigan’s oldest mental health advocacy organization, the Mental Health Association in Michigan,encouraged people to get involved and advocate for appropriate levels of funding to address the needs of persons with serious mental illness across Michigan.

“Recovery from mental illness is more possible every day, and it’s happening far more often than the public may think … Iam living proof of that, having recovered from an urgent bout of depression in 2006.”

Michael Vizena, executive director of the Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards, talked about the importance of the “recovery” effort this way:”Mental illnesses and substance use disorders are real, common, and treatable. Just as people successfully recover and manage other chronic health conditions like diabetes, asthma, and heart disease, with early and effective treatment and support services, people can and do recover from mental illnesses and substance use disorders.”

The National Alliance on Mental Illness, Michigan encouragespeople tojoin them in celebratingrecovery and bringingawareness to mental health by participating in or donating to Michigan’s NAMIWalk Sept. 15. The walk will be held at Providence Park, 47601 Grand River Ave., Novi — details can be found on their website,or contact Kristen Taylor atktaylor@namimi.org.

Mental illness and substance abuse are equal opportunity diseases impacting people across the racial, ethnicand socio-economic divides. When it hits home,it hurts.

We can all do our part to help family members, friends, colleagues, neighbors and fellow citizens lead full and productive lives— now is asgood a timeas anyto start.

Don’t wait for a serious mental illness orsubstance abuse problem to impact you or someone you love— getinvolvedtodayand offer tohelp.

Recovery is at handwhenwe all do our part.

Tom Watkins is a former state superintendent of schools and state mental health director.


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10 Sep 2012

Donations help Masury center fulfill mission

By jeanne starmack

starmack@vindy.com

MASURY

Sherry Swetz walked purposefully across the parking lot toward a small, unassuming block building at 586 Syme St. in Masury.

“We have so much to give away today!” said Swetz, who is director of Joshua’s Haven City Mission in Sharon, Pa.

“I was just telling the neighbors,” she continued.

She went inside.

“We have so much bread,” she said, pointing to a table where loaves from Combine Brothers restaurant in Hermitage, Pa., and Panera Bread were offered for donations.

Someone also had brought in packages of hot dog buns left over from a picnic — along with the hot dogs themselves.

“Someone gave us some corn and some hot dogs, and we don’t have that every week, but we are blessed,” Swetz said.

What the building does have, every Monday from 9 to 11 a.m., is a bread giveaway along with free vegetables from the community garden on the property. It also houses a yard sale that raises money for the bread program. Having opened in June 2011, it is a branch of the downtown Sharon mission that’s meant to serve the nearby Masury and Brookfield neighborhoods.

“People can shop, which helps us raise money to fix up the building,” she said. “Then, they can have free food.”

“This is a feeding and outreach center,” she continued. “When we first got it, it needed a lot of work. It’s my hope to convert part of the building back into a kitchen.”

The building and the downtown mission are run on private donations, she said. She relies on a core group of volunteers that include her mother, Mary Masotto, Willie Gerthung of Masury, Regina Smith of Sharon and Joyce Meszaros of Masury.

Meszaros, who also volunteers at the downtown site, “was our first shopper,” Swetz said, “then we found out she could come and help.”

Smith said she met Swetz when she was just starting Joshua’s Haven, then found out she needed volunteers.

“Missions are my thing,” she said, adding that Swetz “has a heart for this.”

“You don’t see her pulling her hair to do things — for Sherry, it’s all nothing but God,” Smith said.

Around them, shoppers were taking advantage of the yard sale offerings. Rows of tables were crammed with items that included toys, dishes, glasses, coffee mugs, knickknacks, blankets, pictures, books, a television, bikes, Christmas decorations, candles, throw pillows, pottery and some furniture items — everything but clothes.

Swetz said she does not have room for clothes, and will not accept donations of them.

“It’s nice they’re doing this,” said Gloria Matthews of Masury. She was shopping with her son, Brian. “We’ll get a little bit of everything.”

Swetz said the yard sale will continue until it gets cold — there’s no heat yet in the building. But the bread program will continue downtown, she said. Bread giveaways at the city mission, 205 Bank Place, are Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m.

Swetz said the mission is always looking for volunteers, especially if they have a skill, to paint and help with building remodeling and repairs.


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