Before the Virginia Tech University massacre on April 16, Seung-Hui Cho was accused of stalking two female students and was declared mentally ill by a Virginia special justice. Many people knew him to be a troubled young man, and at least one professor asked for him to be removed from a course because she perceived him to be a danger to the other students.
Yet, in the end, the system was powerless to intervene, and Cho killed 31 people, injured dozens of others and ultimately shot himself.
Could the same thing happen here in Milwaukee? Are mentally ill people slipping through the cracks of our system?
I asked those two questions to some of the experts on the front lines of the mental health care system in Milwaukee recently, and the answers came back quickly, emphatically and unanimously: yes and yes.
"Milwaukee's Mental Health System: A Crisis in our Midst" was the focus of the Milwaukee Press Club's Newsmaker Luncheon Wednesday. The event featured a panel of experts: Martha Rasmus, president of the Mental Health Association of Milwaukee; Robert Rawski, M.D., psychiatrist and clinical instructor at the Medical College of Wisconsin; and Jim Hill, administrator of the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division.
They sounded a frightening warning call, one that unfortunately probably won't be heeded until it is too late and a tragedy of unthinkable proportions wakes up this community: the local system does not have enough money, enough housing, enough beds or enough cohesion to meet the demands of a burgeoning mentally ill population.
Admissions to the county's inpatient psychiatric hospital increased nearly 28 last year to 4,228, and the number of patients treated at the county's psychiatric crisis center grew 14 percent to more than 13,000 patients.
Meanwhile, the number of beds for mentally ill people in the county has been slashed in recent years.
It's a formula for disaster, according to Rasmus, Rawski and Hill.
In the meantime, companies can be proactive by becoming part of the solution, instead of the problem, according to the American Psychological Association. The organization offers the following tips for maintaining a psychologically healthy workplace:
- Take a long look at the health care benefits you offer your employees. Do you provide sufficient mental health coverage to deal with the daily stresses of life?
- Review those benefits directly related to the job, to ensure that employees are recognized for productivity improvements and cost savings.
- Provide a program to assist employees with their personal and job-related problems, i.e. an Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
- Put in place a program for employee development, one that provides for continuous growth in skills and earnings.
- Involve your employees in the decision-making processes that directly affect their jobs.
The clock is ticking.
Steve Jagler is executive editor of BizTimes in Milwaukee and is past president of the Milwaukee Press Club. BizTimes provides news and operational insight for the owners and managers of privately held companies throughout southeastern Wisconsin.
Steve has won several journalism awards as a reporter, a columnist and an editor. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
When he is not pursuing the news, Steve enjoys spending time with his wife, Kristi, and their two sons, Justin and James. Steve can be reached at steve.jagler@biztimes.com.
