March 19, 2024

Keep demanding awareness of mental health crisis

Jasper County was well represented Sunday in a march to raise awareness of Iowa’s mental health crisis.

The March on the Capitol for Mental Health drew hundreds to our state capitol to continue a dire conversation with one main theme — Iowa is one of the lowest ranking states in the nation when it comes to access to mental health care.

The statistics have gone unchanged since the Newton Daily News and Newton Police Department hosted a community conversation about our local mental health crisis last November. A recent report on psychiatric beds by the Treatment Advocacy Center found Iowa ranked dead last in terms of mental health beds per capita. Iowa ranks at 46th in the nation for the number of psychologists and 47th for the number of psychiatrists. Some statistics show more than half of those incarcerated in Iowa's prisons suffer from a mental illness.

Gov. Terry Branstad’s decision to close two mental health care facilities in 2015 has had lasting effects. In June Branstad affirmed his position by vetoing a measure — which passed both houses of the Legislature — that would have restored services back to Mount Pleasant and opened a small, private program at the Clarinda hospital. He also stated he’s open to closing the state’s two remaining psychiatric hospitals.

While addressing mental health care at the state level seems all but hopeless, Skiff Medical Center and House of Mercy are leading the way locally to address mental health care. A recently acquired grant will help fund the Jasper County Collaborative: Building Access for Mental Health Services. The coalition will work to create a coordinated, community-focused effort to analyze the mental health environment in Jasper County and to determine opportunities for improving access to care and patient outcomes.

Emergency rooms and county jails cannot continue to be the temporary solution for mental health care. Our lawmakers need to find funding for a long-term plan to address the crisis — ideally, one which would open more beds, acknowledge critical treatment needs and attract more mental health care professionals to Iowa.

We applaud those who participated in this march to raise awareness about our mental health care needs and those working to improve access in Jasper County. We must continue this dialogue and demand more from our lawmakers.