5Q: Megan N. Clingham

 / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
/ PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

1 You’ve said the state’s current system for mental health care is not sustainable. Why is that?

The state has no clear vision regarding a plan for behavioral health care of persons with severe and persistent mental illness. Despite the valuable data provided by the state-funded Truven Report, there is no clear plan that will result in cost-effective financing of a sustainable and comprehensive continuum of care for this segment of our population.

2 Eleanor Slater Hospital has helped provide care for a portion of the mentally ill population. What kind of responsibility does that put on the state and taxpayers?

Due to lack of long-term planning resulting in a shortage of qualified psychiatrists, Slater has ceased admitting mental health patients in need of long-term care and rehabilitation. One only needs to look at the homeless shelters, the streets and the ACI to see the result of the lack of sufficient treatment available to people with severe mental illness. If Slater closes there will be no safety net for our most vulnerable population.

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3 Can you estimate how many full-time treatment specialists would be needed for Rhode Island’s mentally ill population?

I do not have the data to give an exact figure. However, taxpayers are already spending lots of money on this population. But rather than spending the money for services that would keep people in the community … this money is being spent on far more expensive collateral results, such as incarceration and repeat hospitalization.

4 What can the state do to provide better mental health care?

Rhode Island can demonstrate leadership and present a vision to its citizenry that their mental health matters. … The current health care reform is not clear as to how all of the pieces will fit together to provide quality, comprehensive care for people with behavioral health care needs. There is no clear plan for one entity to be ultimately responsible for ensuring that a population who often don’t want care, and who, for various reasons, are unable to access services, receive life-saving and necessary care.

5 What is the future of Rhode Island’s mental health system if reform is not enacted soon?

The future of Rhode Island’s mental health system is dire if reform is not enacted soon. Providing quality care for this population is not only the financially responsible thing to do, it is the morally responsible course of action. •

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