Mental health cuts concern Adams County officials
The Natchez DemocratJun 26, 2017
"I hate the fact that everyone on the state level keeps passing on mental health," Patten said. "It leaves it up to the sheriff's office to handle the situation. I don't think it should be handled at the sheriff's office. I think counties and the state need to get together and work out something with hospitals in the community."
Adams County
Slover said states, under federal law, are supposed to help people live at home and not in institutions.
"In
Slover said putting mentally ill people in jail is ridiculous, to begin with. Patten said he agreed.
"Being thrown in a cell is only going to add to their traumatic experience," Patten said. "Right now, the only real option in the community is shipping them out all over the state, besides putting them in a padded cell.
"You don't have to be a mental patient to have a padded cell mess you up. It's a hell hole for them and they deserve to be treated humanely."
Patten said the sheriff's office has to balance the moral side of the issue with protecting the mentally ill and the community from a potential tragedy. The sheriff's office has a crisis intervention team trained to handle the mentally ill, but Patten said it's only made up of three deputies.
"They have been doing an outstanding job dealing with this issue," Patten said. "But they can't do it all."
Patten said
"We have the obligation to protect the county from these type of incidents, and to protect the person with mental issues," Patten said. "This is a problem that is on the rise throughout the nation. This is one area where we should not be cutting funding."
Lewis said some counties are raising millage to fund the regional health centers, with the goal of each county contributing approximately
Supervisors President
"I think with mental health, we could partner with more counties with more resources," Lazarus said. "We need to look and see what other people are doing. If they are doing it right, we can always take something from them."
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