Vets deserve mental health care at home

I was present at the last Arlington Heights Village Board meeting when a veteran was there to speak about the final stages of planning the Arlington Heights Memorial Day Parade.

I felt my spirits soar as he spoke about the vets marching down the streets to a mile and a half of people cheering words of thanks, accompanied with a standing ovation for the entire parade route.

My feelings of good old fashioned American pride were dashed when the next group to speak were the Housing Task Force’s Good Neighbor Campaign who were denied permission to build affordable permanent supportive housing for individuals living with brain disorders at Boeger Place.

There is a huge unmet need for the sort of permanent supportive housing that this group wants to see built.

The May 16th TIME magazine article, “Mental Ills Top Reason U.S. Troops Now Hospitalized,” further strengthened my feelings of a divergence in social consciousness.

I can only imagine what it will be like to witness the unanimous rallying support of the veterans marching in a parade, where after the few hours of lauding them with well deserved honor and appreciation, the Village of Arlington Heights will turn some of them back onto the streets without adequate housing and care.

Maryrose Peters

Deer Park