| Orange City OK's $12,500 for mental health agency | | Posted Saturday, October 28, 2006 7:04:59 PM by Blog57 Team | | ORANGE CITY -- Orange City is the first city to contribute money to help Act Corp. continue providing local mental health services. The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved $12,500 for the nonprofit agency to help pay for medication for those who do not have insurance and for substance abuse programs, including drug court. "This is a one-time plea for the cities and Volusia County to help Act get out of a situation and not a perpetual allotment," Mayor Ted Erwin said. "We all realize this is an emergency." Act Corp. lost millions of dollars in funding earlier this year after changes to Medicaid spending polices. The agency had 5,000 clients in Volusia and Flagler counties before the changes and cuts. Act sold properties, ended leases, closed clinics, eliminated programs and cut the number of case workers from 90 to four, said Janet Miller, interim acting chief executive officer and president, in an effort to streamline and redefine the agency's mission.... | |
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| | | Jail becomes mental health treatment facility | | Posted Sunday, October 22, 2006 1:13:32 PM by Blog57 Team | | HAMILTON — Jeffrey Knight is one of more than 1,200 Butler County jail inmates — about 10 percent of prisoners — to receive mental health treatment at the jail in the past year. The thick steel doors and cinder blocks don't make it an ideal place for treatment. However, after multiple stays in a psychiatric ward, years of drug abuse, and his second offense, Knight said the jail is the best place he has found for treatment. .... | |
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| | | Mental health ails under spotlight | | Posted Friday, August 18, 2006 10:58:47 PM by Blog57 Team | | Maitland's chronic shortage of mental health staff and resources has come under the spotlight during a Rural Mental Health Roundtable held in the city. Concerned residents and mental health staff met minister assisting the minister for health (mental health) Cherie Burton yesterday, to talk about issues directly affecting Maitland people. Unfortunately Ms Burton was taken to Maitland Hospital with labour pains during the conference but the message was clear - Maitland needs more funding and resources to cope with the growing needs of people living with a mental illness. "We have increased funding and hospital beds for people with a mental illness across the State but there appears to be a chronic shortage of staff," Ms Burton said. "And this is no longer acceptable.... | |
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| | | billion funding for mental health may not be enough | | Posted Monday, July 17, 2006 12:58:37 PM by Blog57 Team | | The Gold Coast Medical Association's (GCMA) mental health spokesman says it is difficult to say if government plans to provide $4 billion for mental health over the next five years will be enough. GCMA vice president Dr Phillip Morris was commenting on the funding agreement reached at the Council of Australian Governments meeting. Dr Morris says the money is welcome and will help make up for previous underfunding of mental health services. He says a major problem has been the loss of 24-hour supervised accommodation for patients unable to live independently. "Instead of appropriate accommodation being made available in the community many of those patients now have been in situations where they haven't had accommodation and been homeless," Dr Morris said.... | |
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