Mental health services at risk

It would be short sighted for state leaders to close one of the state's mental health institutes as they look to save money in these tough economic times.

Closing one of the four institutes might seem efficient in the short term, but reducing access to critical mental health services could prove costly in the long run.

Already, mental health providers say state programs aren't meeting the need for services.

NAMI Iowa Executive Director Margaret Stout told us this week the system is so short of inpatient beds, sometimes even civilly committed people have to wait.

“These people are very, very ill - that's why they're committed - and they can't get a bed,” she said.

Closing a state mental health facility could make it even more difficult for people with mental illness to access care, putting more pressure on other public programs like the Department of Corrections. The end result is a shell game, not savings.

Legislators have asked the state Department of Human Services to develop a proposal to close one state mental health institute while maintaining existing levels of beds and services. A governor's task force is studying the idea and is expected to issue a report on its findings by Dec. 15.

About 400 people attended a recent task force meeting at the Black Hawk Grundy Mental Health Center in Independence. The center's executive director, Tom Eachus, and other mental health professionals told the task force that instead of cutting services, the state should expand them.

They said it already can be difficult to find services for clients with mental health issues.

“We are the provider of the last resort and the safety net for people with the most serious mental disorders,” Dr. Bhasker Dave, superintendent of the Independence facility, said.

Maybe not quite the last resort. Without a well funded and comprehensive system of services, Iowans with mental illness often end up in another type of state-run facility: prison.

Corrections officials estimate about 40 percent of the state's prison inmates have a mental illness. Only about 60 percent of those inmates receive treatment.

Prisons aren't fully equipped as mental health facilities, nor should they be. Warehousing people with mental illness in expensive correctional institutions is bad public policy.

But it's the reality in a state short not only of inpatient beds but also of more cost-effective community-based services for people with mental illness.

As Stout said, it won't help “one bit” to close a mental health institute unless that money continues to be used in other ways to provide services for Iowa's mentally ill.

To really save costs, the state should reinforce the safety net for Iowans with mental illness, not further dismantle it.