More funds needed to aid mentally ill

The remembrance of the Northern Illinois University’s shooting tragedy’s third anniversary was most appropriate in that we must not forget the basic cause of that event — a young man with untreated mental illness.

Only a very, very small percentage of persons with mental illness have become violent when unmedicated, yet why are our loved ones with mental illness treated as pariahs of society and by our state when it comes to the funding of the vital care of those with mental illness?

People with mental illness are unable to speak out in one voice, so Illinois has taken advantage of that by cutting mental health funding by 40 percent during this three-year interim.

The article Feb. 13 in the Daily Herald focused on the healing process at NIU, which is commendable. However, the editor-in-chief of the Northern Star asks, “Where do we go from there?” May I suggest that you and your fellow investigative journalists ask of our state legislators why they chose to drastically reduce the funding for mental health facilities when that action was purely discriminatory? Other illnesses were not targeted for reduced funding on an equal ratio.

Gertrude L. Rodig

Arlington Heights