Update on Tornado Damage to Southwestern State Hospital in Thomas County

A tornado struck Southwestern State Hospital in Thomasville early Thursday morning, causing extensive structural damage but no injuries to patients or hospital staff. The mental health facility is operating under secured emergency conditions but is not admitting new patients at this time.

An adult mental health unit building that includes forensic patients sustained severe damage. No incidents or injuries occurred, and all patients were safely evacuated to other buildings on the hospital campus. Later on Thursday, forensic patients were transferred to West Central Georgia Regional Hospital in Columbus. Some of the remaining patients were transferred to community-based mental health services or were released to their families with physician approval. 158 patients remain safely on campus.

Southwestern State Hospital continues to be on full diversion to either West Central Georgia Regional Hospital in Columbus or Central State Hospital in Milledgeville. The hospital’s diversion status is frequently evaluated and new admissions will be permitted as soon as possible.

New patients from the following counties are currently being diverted to West Central Georgia Regional Hospital in Columbus:

Baker
Calhoun
Dougherty
Early
Lee
Miller
Carroll
Worth
Colquitt
Decatur
Grady
Mitchell
Seminole
Thomas
New patients from the following counties are currently being diverted to Central State Hospital in Milledgeville:

Tift
Turner
Ben Hill
Berrien
Brooks
Echols
Irwin
Lanier
Lowndes

Southwestern State Hospital is operated by the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR) Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases.

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Georgia Disaster Mental Health Site is Online

The Georgia Disaster Mental Health website, designed and produced by University of West Georgia faculty, staff and graduate students, is operational and available for public use.

Sponsored by the Georgia Department of Human Resources, Georgia Division of Public Health and Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases, the far reaching site for residents is one of the most comprehensive sites of its kind in the nation and addresses many of the stresses any kind of catastrophe can bring to an individual, a family or a community.

Dr. Larry Schor, associate professor of psychology, and Vicki Rogers, a service desk manager in Information Technology Services at UWG, worked with colleagues and students for six months to create the site.

“Common setbacks result from the chaos and confusion that occurs when people are affected by disaster,” said Schor. “My experience as a disaster mental health counselor is that people really want the life they had before the disaster. The challenge is to find ways to begin to move forward.”

The response from state agencies and the public has been positive and frequent with agencies in other states requesting information on how the site was developed. Rogers said it was quite an undertaking.

“As a technical consultant and webmaster, this was the largest project I’ve ever worked on,” said Rogers. “We have already begun to update the site and I plan on working on the project over the holiday break. It’s a huge undertaking with a lot of information. Larry’s passion and expertise on the subject of disaster mental health makes this a very good site.”

Schor has assisted in mental health counseling after many disasters including the aftermath of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

“I am optimistic that people will benefit from the website,” said Schor. “Although I think the challenge will be getting the word out and convincing people on the importance of being prepared. Just as we tend to think about changing our windshield wiper blades when it is raining, people tend to deal with disaster needs only when they are affected directly.”

Schor said that people could go to the site and read about preparedness before a disaster and use the internal search to find topics such as “preparedness kits.” The website is also available in Spanish and offers resources and information on how to cope and prepare for a disaster to the elderly, members of the military, persons with disabilities and public school systems.

The site also links to a wide range of organizations including the American Red Cross, Center for Disease Control and Georgia911.org, Georgia’s disaster and emergency website. For more information, go to http://www.westga.edu/~gadmh/.

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Young African-American Males Face Mental Health Crisis; Experts Call For New Treatment Strategies and Better Access to Care

PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A significant increase in mental illness and behavioral problems among adolescent African-American males demonstrates the need for new approaches to treatment and better understanding of the complex challenges facing these youths, according to a policy paper issued by Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved, an advocacy group based at Morehouse School of Medicine.

The paper, titled "The Secret Epidemic: Exploring the Mental Health Crisis Affecting Adolescent African-American Males," outlines data indicating that mental health problems are rising among members of this at-risk group, their access to treatment facilities is relatively low and treatment strategies must be revamped to address the socioeconomic issues that confront them.

"Our research found that many young black males are treatable, but they are going undiagnosed because of failures in America's health-care system," said Dr. Henrie M. Treadwell, Director of Community Voices, a nonprofit seeking to improve health services and access to health care. "Our entire society feels the impact of this failure. Suicides and homicides have increased for this group, and the residual effect is impacting communities across the country. This problem must be addressed."

Dr. Claire Xanthos, a health services research specialist, wrote the paper, which cites studies showing that black males ages 15-19 die from homicide at 46 times the rate of their white counterparts and that from 1980 to 1995, the suicide rate for black adolescents rose from 5.6 to 13 per 100,000 of the population.

Xanthos writes that "these figures should not be surprising since adolescent African-American males in contemporary American society face major challenges to their psychological development and well-being. In addition to dealing with the physical, mental and emotional issues typically experienced during adolescence, adolescent African-American males are confronted with unique social and environmental stressors. They must frequently cope with racism and its associated stressors, including family stressors, educational stressors, and urban stressors."

Moreover, the paper notes that:

-- Racism can affect mental health by reducing socioeconomic status, diminishing access to desirable resources and contributing to poor living conditions.

-- When positive adult male role models are absent, many black youths turn to their peers for help in forming a male identity, an adaptation that often means absorbing negative influences.

-- Urban stress is an important factor in the psychological development of young black males because many live in deprived and dangerous neighborhoods where they are exposed to violence.

-- Significant problems are also encountered by black males who grow up in predominantly white, middle-class communities where they feel distanced from the white youths and also from blacks from poorer communities.

Citing these problems, the paper makes a plea for better access to mental health treatment for young black males, noting that they currently often confront a "confusing maze" when trying to get help.

The paper notes that when young black youths do find treatment, depression is often overlooked because their symptoms often differ from white youths'. For cultural and social reasons, black youths often express suicidal feelings through somatic complaints rather than sadness or depression.

Moreover, the paper calls for more "bicultural" training for young black males. Such training would better prepare them to follow proper behavior in school and the workplace, while also working with young black males to get them ready to deal with the discrimination they are likely to face. Also cited is the need for a significant increase in the number of black therapists available to work with African-American youths.

Dr. Treadwell said it is essential that new policies be implemented to address the social and environmental factors that create poor mental health outcomes for young black males.

"We must increase the capacity of America's mental health system to help resolve the problems faced by young black males," she said. "There must be more research in this area, and more people of color must be trained and hired to help this at-risk group."

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Governor’s Mental Health Service Delivery Commission Releases First Progress Report

The Mental Health Service Delivery Commission established by Governor Sonny Perdue released its first progress report today, outlining specific recommendations to improve treatment, care and services for Georgia’s mentally ill.

The commission, created by executive order in August 2007 to take a comprehensive look at the delivery of mental health services to Georgians, is one of several steps taken by Governor Perdue to establish a new direction for Georgia’s mental health system. Other steps include the approval of increased funding for mental health services and meeting with key mental health stakeholders and advocates to develop a blueprint for improving the system.

According to the commission’s report, two essential elements in improving Georgia’s mental health system will be strengthening community-based services to prevent unnecessary hospitalization and incarceration, and improving treatment and care in state hospitals.

Specifically, the commission’s progress report includes several recommendations for improving Georgia’s entire mental health system. Highlights of the recommendations include:

· Creating a behavioral health collaborative or Cabinet that will help leverage resources and standardize policies across the State’s behavioral health services.
· Improving access to medications and improving the transition of consumers from one system to another to ensure better continuity of care.
· Expanding core community services such as short-term and mobile crisis stabilization, intensive case management, and detoxification.
· Completing a study of the economic effects of mental health parity in health insurance to determine benefits and costs to public and private healthcare systems in Georgia.
· Enhancing the quality of care at the State’s seven hospitals by increasing and standardizing the average cost per bed day.
· Developing a guaranteed benefit package for serving children and adolescents with uniform authorization procedures and standards, regardless of payer source.

These and other recommendations address the need for comprehensive quality improvements in how the state delivers mental health treatment and care and promotes the adoption of clinical best practices.

The commission’s progress report issues specific goals and measures to improve Georgia’s mental health system. The commission is planning meetings with state agency representatives from the Department of Juvenile Justice, Department of Education, Department of Labor, Department of Community Affairs and the Secretary of State’s Office to develop action steps for each recommendation in the report.

The commission is expected to issue a full report this December.
A copy of the 25-page progress report may be accessed at this web address: http://dhr.georgia.gov/DHR-MHDDAD/DHR-MHDDAD_File/Final%20-Commission%20Progress%20Report_1.doc