Right goal, wrong way

Thank you for bringing attention to problems with our state's mental health, substance abuse and developmental disabilities system ("Mental block," editorial, Aug. 8). While you have highlighted a real problem, the increasing pressure on state-run hospitals is a symptom of a deeper disorder, not the primary problem.

The goal of reform -- decreasing the use of state hospitals through the development of effective, local, person-centered services that increase peoples' ability to realize their full potential in the communities of their choice -- is the right one. All North Carolinians should support this effort, if not because it is the moral thing to do, then because it is the fiscally responsible thing.

The primary problem has been a failure of leadership on the part of the Department of Health and Human Services to design and execute a high-functioning system. While our system is dismally underfunded, an infusion of dollars into a poorly designed system will not correct it. What we need is executive branch leadership. Maintaining hospital beds should be a stop-gap measure, not a long-term goal.

You mentioned that the governor hasn't been twiddling his thumbs. Do you know something we don't know?

Mark D. Sullivan

Executive Director, Mental Health Association in Orange County

Carrboro

Destination Dix

If the Dorothea Dix Hospital truly is shutting down in the near future, then it would be a mistake to do anything with the property other than preserve all of it for a destination park.

This property with its proximity to downtown Raleigh is a gem that should be treasured and preserved for future generations to enjoy. It should not be developed for residential or commercial purposes, nor should it be siphoned off for one state building after another. The City of Raleigh has many other locations that are well-suited for each of those purposes. In contrast, the Dix property is the only location in Raleigh where a destination park has the opportunity to thrive and ultimately be something special, something that we as a citizenry will be proud to call our own and to which visitors to the capital of our state will be eager to experience.

It's unfortunate that the legislature missed its opportunity this year to preserve all of the Dix property for a destination park. I hope that the Council of State makes better use of its chance to do something wonderful for the entire state of North Carolina.

Franklin Haignere

Raleigh

Others who call Dix home

To the citizens of Raleigh, Dorothea Dix is more than just a piece of land. To the mentally ill, the plants and animals -- the hawks, deer, possums and foxes -- it is their only home.

Do not ask he who is greedy or does not know. Ask who knows: the people who use this land. Ask me. Although I am only 11, I know the land, and she knows me. I am asking for the child who cannot walk yet, but soon will walk on this earth, hopefully, on the same soft ground I walk on.

I am asking for the child to have the same relationship with this land as I do. I've grown up in Boylan Heights, and I remember walking down cold streets in winter and crawling up the hills to sled, wading in the stream, biking in mid-summer and picking blackberries beside the road.

I still have sweet dreams of me and my dogs galloping across the big field chasing squirrels. Ask yourself where these animals will go if there were no trees, and if the ground was flooded with buildings. The trees, the beautiful trees, towering over everything. Where will they be? Ask yourself.

Rebecca Silber

Raleigh

Much-needed parity

The passage of the mental health insurance parity bill was a highlight of the last session of our General Assembly. Your Aug. 8 editorial "Mental block" expressed genuine concern for our less fortunate who are falling through the cracks and need our undivided attention.

I have been advocating for years that patients with mental illnesses should have the same respect and opportunity for care as anyone who has cancer or heart ailments. The parity bill will aid many people who have been ignored and stigmatized by our society. This action is long overdue, and I applaud the General Assembly for passing this timely piece of legislation.

Keeping Dorothea Dix Hospital open until community continuum care is properly funded and in place would go a long way in protecting the future well-being of our mentally ill. Keeping patients out of jails and emergency rooms should be a priority in Mike Easley's administration.

We owe these patients community care they can trust and rely on. It makes all the talk about turning the Dix property into a park seem rather trivial and self-serving, don't you think?

Steve Church

Willow Spring

Patients lose out

"Save Raleigh's Central Park" signs are everywhere, but the Dix land is not Raleigh's, nor is it Central Park. The state owns it. Only 306 acres remain of the 2,000+ acres originally dedicated for the care of the mentally ill who suffer from no-fault brain diseases.

People displaying the signs were told the mentally ill would be taken care of in a new hospital at Butner. That hospital is to replace both Dix and Umstead but is not half as big as the two combined.

All four state hospitals were given quotas and deadlines for discharging patients to cut bed capacity. State officials repeatedly promised that discharged patients would be followed with community services and that they would absolutely not discharge patients to the streets.

But reports from the Department of Health and Human Services show that more than 1,000 patients, still needing services, are discharged annually to unknowns: "seedy" hotels and in front of homeless shelters, i.e., the streets. State officials alone made the empty promises but now they blame the counties.

Meanwhile, the state is waiting for the highest bidder for the Dix property. But it's the mentally ill and their families who will pay the greater price in unspeakable pain and suffering unless the governor stops this injustice. Society will pay as well for looking the other way.

Silence is consent!

Louise Gladden Fisher

Raleigh

Not noble or fair

The N&O in its Aug. 6 editorial titled "A noble fight" would have you believe that the government is in a better position to provide quality health care than our current system of individual choice in a free market system. HR 3162, a bill to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, proves that the Democrats in Congress have not given up on their idea to expand the welfare state and create another permanent entitlement program that would cost $128.9 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Office Budget.

The legislation also cuts billions of dollars from both Medicare and the Medicare Advantage programs over the next 10 years. Over eight million seniors are enrolled in the Medicare Advantage program, and HR 3162 could cause them to lose their current health-care provider and be subjected to increased costs and decreased services. Is this "fair"?

HR 3162 also eliminates the income limit for eligibility and expands the eligibility pool to include "children" up to age 21. Do you think 21-year-old "children" deserve government-funded health-care benefits at the expense of elderly Medicare beneficiaries? Is this "noble"? It would also levy a substantial tax increase on tobacco and enact a tax on every private insurance policy. Is this "fair"?

Perhaps the most outrageous aspect of HR 3162 is that it repeals current law that requires proof of citizenship when enrolling in the Medicaid program. In short, illegal immigrants would have access to government-funded health benefits.

The real travesty is that The N&O doesn't have courage enough to really share all of the "facts" contained in HR 3162 in its editorial so that common-sense Americans can see this legislation for what it really is: another blatant attempt at socialized medicine that would cost and waste billions of taxpayer dollars. HR 3162 deserves a presidential veto.

Bill Dougherty

Raleigh

(The length limit was waived to permit a fuller response to the editorial.)

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