It was May 11, 2004, when the first e-mail message arrived in my inbox from Louise Jordan asking for help. Her brother Phil Wiggins was being released from a state psychiatric hospital after 43 years, and she was - rightly - concerned about where he'd be placed and what sort of care he would receive.
At that time, many of Jordan's friends and acquaintances didn't know that she had a brother with mental illness.
Over the next four and a half years, until Wiggins' death in November 2008, Jordan and Wiggins opened up their lives, sharing Wiggins' journey, its joys and frustrations, from psych hospital to a group home in Zebulon.
Now Jordan has gone from steadfast guardian for one brother to vocal advocate for all. The soft-spoken woman in her 60s now gives talks about her experiences as her brother's keeper. She's a member of the board for Wake County NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Soon, because of Jordan, buses will be tooling around Raleigh featuring images of famous people who have done great things while wrestling with mental illness. The wrap-around ads will be paid for by the local NAMI chapter and will feature iconic people from Abraham Lincoln to Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia).
The logo on the buses will be "Mental Illness ... Who Knew?"
"We want the buses to catch people's eye," said Gerry Akland, head of Wake NAMI. "We want to reduce the stigma that still surrounds mental illness."
On the inside of the buses, there will be additional information, including about support groups, Akland said.
"We want people to understand that they can get help, that mental illness is a disease like any other," Jordan said.
What Jordan (and I) saw time and again with her brother was that even some of the people hired to work directly with him had misconceptions about mental illness.
Many of those workers are paid little more than minimum wage. Many have never dealt before with someone with a profound mental illness like schizophrenia.
"They were good people, but some of them didn't know how to approach someone like Phil," Jordan said. "None of them had received training."
So in addition to planning the splashy bus artwork, Jordan is coordinating with Bebe Smith at UNC's Schizophrenic Treatment and Evaluation Program (STEP) on a plan to provide basic training in mental illness for the workers.
Jordan knows it will be a challenge to get buy-in, not to mention funding. She's ready to appear before legislative committees, local government, whatever it takes.
If that seems like a lot to take on for a woman who, for 43 years, labored in anonymity for her beloved brother, Jordan said it's because of Wiggins that she has taken on this new role.
"I miss Phil so much," she said. "This is a way I can honor him."
