This issue is important. The closing of six of the city's twelve mental health safety net clinics effects all taxpayers. Mental health treatment for the poor and uninsured can save taxpayers millions of dollars in prison costs, police/public safety time & cost, and allow people to remain employed (and pay their taxes), as well as alleviating suffering and treating symptoms of depression, psychosis, etc..
NOW is the time to call Alderman O'Connor's office and demand a budget amendment allowing all of the city's 12 mental health clinic to remain open. This is serious. Call or email now. Note the quote from the article "They (the aldermen) are paid to represent us (the voters), not the mayor.
I'm impressed with the various aldermen who have come out in support of a budget amendment for mental health clinics like our neighboring 36th Ward Alderman, Nicholas Sposato.
From the New York Times article below:
"Health care workers and other advocacy groups to write a budget amendment and introduce it at the next City Council meeting in December. It calls for restoring the mental health clinics “because they are a lifeline to the city,” Ms. Carter, 57, said.
The group also plans to flood aldermen’s offices with calls and e-mail seeking their support.
“This could absolutely follow them into the voting booth,” Ms. Carter said. “They are paid to represent us, not the mayor.”
A Sit-In Fails to Save Clinics, but the Fight Continues
Paul Beaty for the Chicago News Cooperative
Members of STOP outside Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office on Tuesday.
By DON TERRY
Gail Davis, a protester.
For more than two years, she and other members of STOP, a grass-roots advocacy group formally known as Southside Together Organizing for Power, have been battling budget cutters who want to save $3 million by closing six of Chicago’s 12 public mental health clinics.
After a brief sit-in at Mayor Richard M. Daley’s office in 2009, the clinics were spared. A 10-hour sit-in outside Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office on Tuesday failed to save them, as the budget with those cuts and others passed unanimously on Wednesday. But Ms. Carter said STOP was undeterred.
“The fight continues,” said Ms. Carter, who has relied on the city’s mental health clinic system in her lifelong battle with depression. “We don’t plan to go away.”
The organization is assembling a coalition of labor unions, health care workers and other advocacy groups to write a budget amendment and introduce it at the next City Council meeting in December. It calls for restoring the mental health clinics “because they are a lifeline to the city,” Ms. Carter, 57, said.
The group also plans to flood aldermen’s offices with calls and e-mail seeking their support.
“This could absolutely follow them into the voting booth,” Ms. Carter said. “They are paid to represent us, not the mayor.”
Tarrah Cooper, a spokeswoman for Mr. Emanuel, said that his administration remained “firmly committed” to providing “the highest level of patient care” and that the 2012 budget “allows the city to partner with community providers, delivering needed services at a lower cost while still maintaining a high level of care.”
But Ms. Carter said closing the clinics would disrupt, and could endanger, the already fragile lives of the people who rely on them. The South Side clinic she visits is not among those scheduled to be closed, but she said she was worried that clinic staff members might lose their jobs.
“If my therapist is not there, I will have to start all over,” she said, adding, “There are people much worse than me.”
Ms. Carter said she was worried that the city might somehow retaliate against her for taking part in the sit-ins and other protests. “But I have a lot of support,” she said. “I have STOP.”
STOP is as stubborn as it is diverse. The eight-year-old organization, which includes University of Chicago students and graduates, residents of a low-income housing development, clients of the mental health clinics and area teenagers, has been fighting gentrification and displacement of residents in the struggling Woodlawn neighborhood and other parts of the South Side.
“The most sustained organizing I’ve seen in recent years has been through STOP and its various offshoots” said Jamie Kalven, a writer and longtime advocate for the poor.
Everything about the Tuesday sit-in was carefully planned. The day before, Ms. Carter and a colleague, Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle, “cased” the building to determine the best way to get the greatest number of protesters into the mayor’s office before the police moved in. News media were alerted.
That night, group members practiced their tactics and reviewed the dos and don’ts of nonviolent civil disobedience.
“We want to look like regular citizens going in,” Ms. Carter told the training session. “Don’t wear any political buttons. They might spot you.” Mr. Ginsberg-Jaeckle added, “We don’t want to be arrested until everybody is there.”
He also said it was important that “we come off as the reasonable ones. No resisting. Stay calm. We have right on our side.”
A retired nurse raised her hand.
“I’m an old lady,” she said. “What if I have to go to the bathroom? What if they let us sit there all day and night?”
“That won’t happen,” a man said. “Trust me. I’ve done this before. The police aren’t that patient.”
The sit-in started shortly after 12:30 p.m. when 12 protesters sat on the floor in front of the glass doors of the mayor’s office, declaring the area “Rahm’s psych ward.” A trio of burly police officers blocked the way inside. After the 10 o’clock news, the protesters decided to call it quits.
The police hadn’t arrested anyone, and they had locked the bathrooms.
After a brief sit-in at Mayor Richard M. Daley’s office in 2009, the clinics were spared. A 10-hour sit-in outside Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office on Tuesday failed to save them, as the budget with those cuts and others passed unanimously on Wednesday. But Ms. Carter said STOP was undeterred.
“The fight continues,” said Ms. Carter, who has relied on the city’s mental health clinic system in her lifelong battle with depression. “We don’t plan to go away.”
The organization is assembling a coalition of labor unions, health care workers and other advocacy groups to write a budget amendment and introduce it at the next City Council meeting in December. It calls for restoring the mental health clinics “because they are a lifeline to the city,” Ms. Carter, 57, said.
The group also plans to flood aldermen’s offices with calls and e-mail seeking their support.
“This could absolutely follow them into the voting booth,” Ms. Carter said. “They are paid to represent us, not the mayor.”
Tarrah Cooper, a spokeswoman for Mr. Emanuel, said that his administration remained “firmly committed” to providing “the highest level of patient care” and that the 2012 budget “allows the city to partner with community providers, delivering needed services at a lower cost while still maintaining a high level of care.”
But Ms. Carter said closing the clinics would disrupt, and could endanger, the already fragile lives of the people who rely on them. The South Side clinic she visits is not among those scheduled to be closed, but she said she was worried that clinic staff members might lose their jobs.
“If my therapist is not there, I will have to start all over,” she said, adding, “There are people much worse than me.”
Ms. Carter said she was worried that the city might somehow retaliate against her for taking part in the sit-ins and other protests. “But I have a lot of support,” she said. “I have STOP.”
STOP is as stubborn as it is diverse. The eight-year-old organization, which includes University of Chicago students and graduates, residents of a low-income housing development, clients of the mental health clinics and area teenagers, has been fighting gentrification and displacement of residents in the struggling Woodlawn neighborhood and other parts of the South Side.
“The most sustained organizing I’ve seen in recent years has been through STOP and its various offshoots” said Jamie Kalven, a writer and longtime advocate for the poor.
Everything about the Tuesday sit-in was carefully planned. The day before, Ms. Carter and a colleague, Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle, “cased” the building to determine the best way to get the greatest number of protesters into the mayor’s office before the police moved in. News media were alerted.
That night, group members practiced their tactics and reviewed the dos and don’ts of nonviolent civil disobedience.
“We want to look like regular citizens going in,” Ms. Carter told the training session. “Don’t wear any political buttons. They might spot you.” Mr. Ginsberg-Jaeckle added, “We don’t want to be arrested until everybody is there.”
He also said it was important that “we come off as the reasonable ones. No resisting. Stay calm. We have right on our side.”
A retired nurse raised her hand.
“I’m an old lady,” she said. “What if I have to go to the bathroom? What if they let us sit there all day and night?”
“That won’t happen,” a man said. “Trust me. I’ve done this before. The police aren’t that patient.”
The sit-in started shortly after 12:30 p.m. when 12 protesters sat on the floor in front of the glass doors of the mayor’s office, declaring the area “Rahm’s psych ward.” A trio of burly police officers blocked the way inside. After the 10 o’clock news, the protesters decided to call it quits.
The police hadn’t arrested anyone, and they had locked the bathrooms.
I'm all for any and every kind of cut in the budget, but even I can see treating mental illness is way cheaper than paying to keep mentally ill in prisons or paying policemen disability after being injured from trying to subdue a mentally ill person. This budget cut made no sense, even to me.
ReplyDeleteWith all the unemployment, foreclosures and other problems facing people in an uncertain economy, closing mental health facilities, is just stupid.
ReplyDeleteThe mentally ill suffer - and Ayn Rahm shrugs.
ReplyDeleteWhat people don't understand is the regular city health clinics that offer standard primary care can closed because there are hundreds of community health clinics subsidized by the federal government,
ReplyDeleteBUT
There are no federally subsidized mental health clinics, and it is left up to cities and counties to provide mental health care for people who have no health insurance.
Not only are half of all the city mental health clinics being closed, Tinley Park, Cook County mental health facility is being closed due to budget cuts, too. This is a very serious situation, especially since the number one growing acute hospitalization reason is psychiatric illness in the city of chicago.
Lots of adult children living in their parents basements who need psych services. Because this is a blue collar neighborhood, depression and despondency doesn't get talked about, but it is certainly the elephant in the room. Cutting anything to do with mental health is a mistake. 16th Cop
ReplyDeleteMy cousin's husband went to one of the city mental health clinics and it kept him out of the psych hospital. He still goies every month and recently found a part-time job.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe 50 aldermen should be mandated to go for psych treatment at one of the mental health clinics for voting unanimously for the mayor's budget. They are obviously unstable and deranged to follow the lead of that sociopath.
ReplyDeletelets see if the city council has any backbone at all
ReplyDeletesevere, drastic cuts always come back to bite. Slower incremental change is most effective and allows people time to find other resources.
ReplyDeletethe cuts to mental health clinics were to severe, I agree. Lets get them back on track.
ReplyDeleteThe aldermen didn't fight hard enough for the clinics. Makes me wonder what their priorities are.
ReplyDeleteI know this has nothing to do with mental health but does anyone know what happened with the proposed hookah bar on Harlem?
ReplyDeleteTo the person objecting to the 3:55pm post - the writer said the blogger was correct in (to use different words) bringing the subject to light so the aldermen would act... not the best choice of words, but I believe it was a figurative use of words since I was the person referenced to be acting... either way, your concern noted and comment deleted.
ReplyDeleteReaders,
ReplyDeleteWhen commenting about this subject, stay on point and be as clear and concrete as possible... Politicians sometimes try to grasp at anything to turn a viable issue upside-down.
The important issue (insuring access to mental health treatment for the uninsured and poor) then becomes more about the politicians then about the constituents.... We need to remind the politicians in this case that they are not the subject, vulnerable citizens who suffer with mental illnesses are...
oh no, using figurative language to drive home a point? tsk, tsk.... Remind the pols how much rhetoric and hyperbole we have to endure from them at election time - and they rarely come throught on those "figurative" promises.
ReplyDeleteI called North River mental health center last year when I was out of work and sinking into a terrible depression. I was told next available appointment was in three months. I had no insurance and no therapist I called would see me because I had no way to pay. I finally called my family doctor who agreed to see me even though I had no money and he gave me antidepressants until I could see the therapist at the city clinic.
ReplyDeleteCutting mental health care in Chicago, during a economic crisis is foolish and I can tell you, worsens depression.
I think there is an illusion that people in Edison Park don't have depression or have other resources. Not true. I've lost faith in this alderman and she has another three years to go. I get the impression most issues are about her, how she looks and anything she does depends on numbers of votes won/lost (like her comment about the 6000 votes involved with the sticker increases).
Cut the budget. NOW. Folks they will move to another place where they get treatment and food. We will (the legal tax paying citizens) will benefit after a number of years. Look at the long term big picture. Cut it now. Next, keep all salery structures the same as now for city workers and contract workers, but max the saleries at $100,000.00 per year. The workers still get paid their due, but the clout heavy fat cats feel the burn. America.
ReplyDeleteThe priority for the fearless fifty is pleasing Rahm. The priority for Rahm is protecting his friends at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The Financial Services "Industry" has bribed Rahm to the tune of $200,000 since his days as a wee little congressman.
ReplyDeleteIf you are ill, Rahm and his pals hope you jump off of bridge.
In next years budget, watch for Rahm to replace funding for suicide prevention services with funding for suicide persuasion services. And it will pass by a vote of 50-0, with another standing ovation.
ReplyDeleteBlogger - you say you are happy Alderman Sposato because he said mental health care was important. But, those were just words, because when it came down to actually voting for the budget, he was like all the rest - no courage to do the right thing.
ReplyDeleteMAYOR ANNOUNCES PLAN TO COUNTER UPROAR OVER CLOSING OF MENTAL HEALTH CLINICS
ReplyDeleteJoins with CEO of Commercial Club in hope of silencing critics with 'Suicide Persuasion Hotline.'
At a hastily called press conferance late yesterday, Mayor Emanual stood alongside Commercial Club CEO Thurston Silverspoon III and announced the city would soon begin a Suicide Persuassion Program. The Mayor said it is his hope that this plan will silence those critical of his closing several mental health clinics throughout Chicago.
"I just got sick and tired of the endless whining - 'Oh the poor mentally ill - What about the mentally ill? Blah blah, said Emanual. "So I did what I always do when a problem arises, I called one of my many rich friends, in this case my fellow Club member Thurston, and we brainstormed over some Brandy and cigars at the Club."
"Don't forget the caviar", said Silverspoon.
"Right. And after a few hours, we came up with a plan. I will submit the plan for unanimous approval in the form of a budget amendment first thing at the next city council meeting. Here are some of the details...
"It all starts with the hotline", said Silverspoon. "We'll convince the callers that their suicide will result in a 'next life.' That their next life could be as members of the lucky sperm club, as I am."
"And the city will provide support services", Emanual chimed in. "For example, if a passenger tells a CTA driver he wants to kill himself, that passenger will not have to pay a fare, provided he exits the CTA bus at or near one of our towns many fine bridges."
"Our plan can be improved over time, but we think we are off to a great start", Silverspoon said.
"Let's not forget the Suicide Persuasion Hotline toll free number - 1-800-222-JUMP", said the Mayor.
"And with any luck, we will soon close all the Mental Health clinics in our city, and pass the savings along to our dear friends at The Chicago Mercantile Exchange", said a beaming Silverspoon.