Mental Health

The shooting at the Texas church by an escaped mental patient has the media buzzing about what happened to the mental hospitals. This should prompt a review by States and Counties to determine the need to again provide these services.

 

In the 1950s and 1960s there were a sufficient number of private and public mental health facilities available to families and courts. One of my summer jobs was to work as a therapist at St. Louis State School and Hospital.  We had 700 patients living at this facility, who were retarded. Our hospital had a small number of children who were born with life-limiting birth defects including hydrocephalic and microcephalus. There are no cures or treatments, so these patients were just kept alive and comfortable. We had dormitories for other patients and separated them with the severely afflicted patients in one building and the less afflicted patients in another building. Some of these patients were trainable and educable and I worked with them. The downs syndrome kids were capable of doing a lot of things. We had our own dairy farm and served whole milk with meals. Some of the patients worked at the farm and a few others worked outside the facility. Parents and relatives could visit on Sundays and we had the patients deliver musical performances. Their favorite song to sing was “Daisy, Daisy”. When they got to the part where they sang “I’m half crazy” they all giggled. We had a swimming pool and a schoolhouse. During my time working there, we determined that downs syndrome kids could live at home in most cases and we moved them from them to cottages on the grounds.

 

This and other facilities were funded by the patients Social Security Disability payments, donations and tax revenue from the State and the County.

 

The other mental hospital in St. Louis was on Arsenal Street and included those afflicted with schizophrenia and other more serious illnesses that made them dangerous to themselves and others and required that they be supervised in a locked facility. Some patients were treated and released, but were still monitored.

 

There were hospitals for the “criminally insane” that were high-security facilities the courts could use to isolate the most dangerous patients.

 

Other facilities are available for dementia patients. There are retirement homes that are set up to contain Alzheimer patients.

 

There are also facilities to treat drug and alcohol addiction and abuse along with AA groups meetings taking place everywhere.

 

When the State of Georgia closed its mental hospital in Milledgeville GA in 2010, I believe many of these patients ended up in the homeless population and the rest appear to be living with relatives. I’ve seen some working as baggers in local grocery stores.

 

The mental patient that shot and killed 26 people in that Texas church was able to purchase an assault rifle, because the US Military did not put his name on the list to prevent him from purchasing firearms.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader