Improve care and spend less money

Last year's deep cuts in state funding for mental health services, coupled with similar cuts the previous year have devastated Illinois' already weak mental health system. Fortunately there is a solution within easy reach.

Illinois leads the nation in the number of people with mental illness confined to nursing homes. This is often bad for elderly nursing home residents as well as for people with mental illness.

Nursing home workers generally have little knowledge or training in mental illness, and nursing home programs in are generally tailored for the elderly and not for people with mental illness. In fact, Medicaid regards nursing home placement for people with mental illness as substandard and will not reimburse the state for it. So the state's reliance on nursing homes to care for those with mental illness is also bad for taxpayers.

The solution is permanent supportive housing (PSH). In a PSH setting the clients each have their own apartment in a regular apartment building. Mental health services are provided on site by mental health specialists. In a good PSH setting 70-80 percent of residents will see their mental health symptoms completely disappear. It is also good for the State budget: nursing home placements for people with mental illness cost the State of Illinois an average of $117 per person per day, compared to only $28 for PSH.

Earlier this month Governor Quinn's Nursing Home Safety Task Force called for moving people with mental illness from nursing homes into PSH. It's better for the nursing home residents, better for the people with mental illness, and better for the state budget.

NAMI Barrington joins the Governor's Task Force in calling for our legislators to replace this inappropriate system of nursing home care with additional permanent supportive housing for people suffering from mental illnesses.

Hugh Brady

President NAMI Barrington Area

Palatine