Times Editorials : Glory be
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/68324/
Our long regional nightmare may finally be over. Last week’s heartening news — that people suffering from acute mental illness in Northwest Arkansas will soon have access to 29 Medicaid-funded beds courtesy of the state Legislature — hung some awfully big smiles on faces throughout the Ozarks.
This announcement also means the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will be expanding its psychiatric residency program into our little corner of the world, great news that we’ll be celebrating for years to come. UAMS will operate the facility in conjunction with Spriingdale’s Northwest Medical Center.
For many folks, such a development may seem to be no big deal. But mental illness is a serious matter, and anyone who has watched a loved one descend into its grip knows the availability of more intensive care in our region is something to celebrate.
In April 2002, the Springdale hospital closed Highland Hall, a 20-bed unit, which left the area without Medicaid-covered beds for suffering adults.
Thus began a six-year odyssey for those afflicted and their families that left health professionals pushing hospitals and legislators in Little Rock to come up with a solution.
Perhaps more than any other group, Ozark Guidance Center — particularly former CEO David L. Williams — deserves a lot of credit for helping to make this long overdue moment possible. Back in the dark days, when it seemed the region may be permanently without quality assistance for its most seriously disturbed and hurting patients, advocates like OGC never quit underlining the importance of dealing with mental illnesses.
As we have dutifully noted more than once, Article 19 of the Arkansas Constitution plainly states that it is the duty of the General Assembly (state government, in other words ) to provide institutions “ for the treatment of the insane. ” Unfortunately for the state’s mentally ill, and their families and friends, state government has been falling down on the job for years.
Finally, in 2008, Arkansas seems to be turning a corner in its treatment of the mentally ill — although, in fairness, these steps in the right direction exist because medical professionals refused to give up on this oft-forgotten constituency.
Earlier this summer a ribbon-cutting took place in Little Rock to celebrate the opening of a new 152, 000-square-foot State Hospital with 130 beds available for the mentally ill. Then there’s the brand new $ 32 million Psychiatric Research Institute on Little Rock’s UAMS campus, where doctors mean to expand the number of psychiatric beds in the Natural State — including the opening of state’s first unit dedicated to children ages 2-12. And don’t forget about the governor’s Children’s Behavioral Health Care Commission, or first lady Ginger Beebe’s efforts to raise awareness of children’s mental health issues.
Maybe, just maybe, Arkansas is entering the 21 st century on the mental illness front.
Will wonders never cease ? We hope not.