By SHELIA BYRD,Associated Press Writer
July 07, 2008 09:30 am
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When the Mississippi Department of Mental Health asked lawmakers for a $22 million deficit appropriation this past regular session, the agency received about half that amount and some goodwill laws.
If given a choice, MDMH Director Ed LeGrand said he would have preferred all the money over bills that encourage the use of politically correct terminology to refer to the mentally ill.
MDMH needed the state money to match federal dollars used to maintain some services at the 15 community mental health centers in the state. Mississippi’s share is $31 million, and it will bring another $98 million in federal dollars. That’s $129 million in services for about 100,000 people.
Lawmakers, facing a longer list of agency needs than revenue sources to pay for them, approved $10 million for MDMH’s shortfall. LeGrand said the money helped, but it didn’t solve the problem. Come next January, the agency again will ask lawmakers for a deficit appropriation in the neighborhood of $24 million.
Until then, the mental health centers will continue to try to stretch their dollars.
“They’re just doing the best that they can with what we’ve got to give them,” LeGrand said.
Last fiscal year, the community centers served about 100,000 people with mental illness, retardation or substance abuse problems, LeGrand said.
“In the event that one closes due to the lack of resources, it would put that much burden on the state operations,” he said.
“Some of them are doing well. Some of them are doing OK, and some of them are barely keeping their head above water. They’re having to cut down on the benefits provided to their employees,” LeGrand said. “You’re limited by how many people you can see. You can only do that so long before you slip your head underwater.”
According to the agency, about 162,000 Mississippians suffer from mental illness. On average, the agency cares for about 3,835 people each day. MDMH employs about 9,000 workers and has a budget of about $632 million, but less than half of that comes from state money.
LeGrand said the agency didn’t ask for the new law that requires offensive terms like “imbecile” or “the insane” be stripped from state statutes, but he understands why people would be offended by the language. Those words will be replaced with the phrases, “persons with mental illness” or “persons with mental retardation.”
Rep. Jessica Upshaw, R-Diamondhead, said she introduced the bill at the request of Gulf Coast Chancery Judge Margaret Alfonso. Upshaw has filed the bill in years past without any success.
“Thankfully this year, with me finally be on the Public Health Committee myself, the chairman was willing to bring it up,” Upshaw said.
The other new law allows the MDMH director to recommend name changes for facilities to erase antiquated or offensive terminology. That bill was written by Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven.
“When I was campaigning, I went to the Brookhaven Juvenile Rehabilitation facility. When I went into it, there were autistic and retarded children. It tugged on my heart a great deal,” Currie said.
Currie, who said she’s interested in mental health issues, said it was a tight budget year and lawmakers wrestled getting enough money to agencies, including mental health.
“We need to take care of them,” she said. “They are definitely people who have a hard time taking care of themselves.”
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