With Jim Goodmon and Gregory Poole backing a destination park for the Dorothea Dix Hospital property, the powerful park advocates are not messing around this time (news story, Aug. 27). Gov. Bev Perdue will be pressured to listen to these prominent people because they have money and influence over public opinion. The General Assembly used money (or lack of it) and influence to close Dix. They defunded the facility for years.
Back when Dorothea Dix was working for better conditions for the mentally ill, it was widely believed that people with diseases of the mind could never be cured and that it was sufficient to provide the bare minimum care for them. With patients filling up understaffed, ill-equipped emergency rooms, nursing homes and jails across the state, it seems like deja vu all over again.
I cannot argue against the fact that a downtown park will probably attract industry and tourism to the area. That being said, it is shamefully arrogant of us to continually downplay what will happen to our mental health system for the sake of "progress." I ache for the patients.
