Letters to the editor January 17 2013

Reform the mental health care system?

There has been a renewed focus in the news about gun control due to the Sandy Hook shootings.I think another sad part of this tragedy is the fact that gun control is the first thing that comes to everyone’s minds when bad things like this happen. I think one other thing that needs to be explored is the mental health system in the country. The face of mental health treatment has changed in the last two decades and not for the better. 

Facilities are being closed and very ill people are not being followed up with to monitor medications and treatment. As someone who has been on both sides of the mental health system, caring for mentally ill people and being diagnosed with mental illness, I can tell you it’s an underserved discipline. People who receive out-patient therapy see a therapist maybe once a week and the psychiatrist maybe every three months. The psychiatrist then only spends a total of five minutes, just enough time to write a prescription and move on to the next. If the patient chooses not to continue with therapy, they are not generally followed up with. I am not blaming the therapists, they often have a heavy patient load. I guess it bothers me that after all that happened with innocent people getting gunned down in the past year that our government never considered mental health care reform.

The buildings at the now closed Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center sit and rot. There were patients at Harlem Valley who had lived there since they were very young and it was the only kind of life they ever knew. What happened to these people, is what I often wonder. Even though the treatments have changed for treating mental illness, I believe that the real problems occur when state and federal budgets have to take a cut. Then, it’s the sick and elderly or kids who get the short end of the stick.

As it stands, the closing of Taconic DDSO in Wassaic, N.Y., is rumored to happen in the next year or so. The state of New York is not making a plan known to staff or consumers’ families as to where they plan to move these people. Something has to change to get mentally ill and mentally challenged people the follow-up care they need and deserve. 

When people hear a group home may open in their neighborhoods they panic. People need to educate themselves and should not assume a group home would be a bad thing. Being in a group home means medications are being monitored and staff is there to follow up, 24/7. 

Eleanor O’Toole

Millerton, N.Y.

No offer was made for library building

With great interest, I read the article in last week’s Millerton News titled, “Can town and bank work together regarding library?” I feel the article was a fair representation of my comments and quotes. 

However, I must inform the reader of a critical mistake of facts. The article states, according to Supervisor Coons, the town went so far as to make an offer, close to the appraisal, but the offer was rejected by the bank. This statement is totally false. No offer has ever been made. 

Upon reading the article, I called Brian Coons. Brian had read the article and knew exactly why I was calling. He agreed that an offer was never made by the town.    

Banking regulations do not allow banks to own property unless it is used in their business operations. Thus, we must sell the building and recover as much of the loaned monies as possible. Our clear first choice would be for the town of Pine Plains to purchase the property. The building is a wonderful community asset that has been well utilized by the residents of Pine Plains over the last four years. 

Other potential buyers of this property will most likely want a vacant building, so it can be utilized for their purpose. In the event an offer is not made by the town in the near future, the bank will have no choice but to list the property for sale with a real estate broker. 

George T. Whalen III

President

Bank of Millbrook

Washington