Mental health issue requires immediate attention

The last few weeks have been a political ‘junkie’s’ Pieta, but to others a nightmare. Look at the recent headlines and what does one see?

Well, for starters there is Zimbabwe and the continued ‘dictatorship’ of Robert Mugabe. Why has the President of South Africa been so reluctant to criticize Mugabe while other South Africans, including Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu, have cried out for change in what was once Africa’s richest agricultural nation?

Then we have Stephen Harper taking the right and proper action of apologizing to members of the First Nations and the Inuit for the treatment they received from the Government of Canada and their agents, including the harsh treatment many of them received as students in the Residential Schools and the fact they were separated from their families and their communities.

One might have been even more accepting of the Prime Minister’s words and deeds if he had agreed to live up to the terms and conditions stated in the Kelowna Accord signed by the First Nations and the Inuit with the Paul Martin government.

Here in Nova Scotia, we had the children’s ATV scandal. One wonders where truth lies in this swamp. Are we to believe that a single Cabinet Minister, without the knowledge and the approval of the Premier and the Cabinet, can make a purchase of this magnitude with our tax dollars? Just as with roads, the Conservatives know they can only win seats by pandering to rural voters. One wonders why there have not been resignations from Cabinet over this scandal?

However, perhaps the most significant political event of recent days has been the national media’s coverage of mental health, a public policy issue which for far too long has been swept under the carpet by successive governments at all three levels of government. Before going further, one must acknowledge and congratulate Stephen Harper for establishing the Mental Health Commission of Canada, chaired by former Senator and Dalhousie faculty member Michael Kirby. This is a positive step, which one expects will take mental health out of the closet and onto Main Street.

One wonders what’s being done?

Did you realize that Canada is the only member of the G8 without a mental health strategy? Mental health, like all aspects of health, is now a shared federal-provincial responsibility.

One wonders what the provinces and municipalities are doing to assist the mentally ill in their jurisdictions? Locally, we have seen at the insistence of the province some years ago the amalgamation of the Fundy Mental Health Centre in Wolfville and Kings County’s mental health wing in Waterville with the Valley Regional Hospital. Having served as the last Chair of Fundy’s Board, I am still not convinced that this ‘shotgun marriage’ at the insistence of the province was the right thing to do!

Mental health can be found in many guises, including alcoholism, learning disabilities, family gene pools, divorce, poor housing, military service and the embarrassment of either being afflicted yourself or having a family member who is afflicted. Those who are mentally ill need advocates.

For example, the learning disabled child requires not only the support of his/her family, but also of their teachers, their friends and society in general. They also require the financial support of government so they can obtain an education and become employable. In Nova Scotia, many LD students have benefited from the assistance provided by one family that provided funds for St. Mary’s to establish a centre to assist these students gain a university degree.

One such individual in our own family, thanks to this help, not only obtained their BA but also their MBA. Yet many of his teachers had given up on him as being not of university material. Locally, the Rotary has been very supportive.

Which came first?

We wonder about alcoholism and now narcotics! How many individuals ‘dependent’ upon these substances are mentally ill yet society shuns them for being a ‘drunk’ or an addict? Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

Are some of these individuals alcoholics because they are ill or are they ill because they are alcoholics? In either case, they require treatment that many are not receiving today.

Dementia in its many forms is becoming a daily problem for many Canadian families. What should we as a society do to assist those families who struggle daily to assist a loved one weighed down with this illness?

It is estimated that 140,000 mentally ill Canadians live in substandard housing and many of these are elderly persons.

Yes, to implement an adequate mental health strategy will be expensive. But how expensive is it not to have a policy?

Daily, how many hours do our various police forces spend dealing with the mentally ill when they could be better employed dealing with serious criminal matters? Could the existing backlog within the courts be eliminated if the mentally ill had their own court system, adequate medical care and decent housing?

What about those who have to leave the workforce to look after an elderly parent with dementia? Could they remain at work if we had adequate daycare for those afflicted with serious forms of dementia?

What is it presently costing this country by not having a sustainable mental health strategy? Could governments actually save money with a national mental health strategy that would replace the threadbare, musty patchwork quilt that exists at the moment?

What we are dealing with is the need for a public policy to deal with the mentally ill. Yes, government can produce a policy on children and ATVs, or composting, but not mental health.

Why? Is it because there is insufficient public pressure currently being placed upon our various levels of government? Is it because many mentally ill Canadians do not or cannot vote? Is it because though we like to think of ourselves as a Samaritan state, in truth we are not?

Yes, mental health does not have the impact of cancer, but in the long run the consequences can be just as devastating. It is going to be very interesting to watch the evolution of this debate now that the national media is campaigning for a change in public policy for the mentally ill. Today, the ball is in the government’s court!