Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
23 <br />MENTAL HEALTH TASK FORCE REPORT <br />"Many providers didn't want to sign contracts, didn't want to step into this until they knew," said Janet Schanzsnbach, <br />interim executive director of the N.C. Council of Community Programs. The council represents local mental health <br />agencies, which must line up community-based services and manage patient care. As a result, when some families have <br />sought community care, they have found few options. <br />Few choices <br />A lack of enriching day programs in the Triangle was the main reason Chary and Robert Sandstrom of Cary sent their <br />28-year-old daughter, Juli, who has schizophrenia, to a private residential program in Western North Carolina When <br />Juli was younger, the Sundstroms enrolled her in college to keep her active and engaged. Chary Sandstrom went with <br />Juli to classes at Meredith College, and if Juli grew disruptive, her mother was there to intercede. With that support, Juli <br />earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics -- with honors. "But I'm not going to live forever, so I can't follow her around <br />forever," Chary Sandstrom said. <br />At CooperRiis, a working farm community in Mill Spring that residents help run, Juli has a job in housekeeping. She can <br />take exercise classes, explore the 80-acre grounds and join other therapeutic activities. "She's gotten better there," said <br />Chary Sandstrom. "She loves it." <br />But CooperRiis is not a permanent residence. Its mission is to teach people how to maintain lives in the outside world, <br />and Juli graduates in October. Her parents hope she can be placed in a program affiliated with CooperlZiis, though that <br />would keep her hours away. If that isn't possible, the Sundstroms will reconsider the Triangle. <br />Some new resources have opened in Wake County since the Sundstroms last looked. A clubhouse that helps members <br />practice vocational and social skills, Club Horizon, opened in Knightdale in 2004. But if Club Horizon isn't right for <br />Juli, Robert Sandstrom wonders where the rest of the choices are. "I just don't see a lot of these programs out there," he <br />said. <br />Cash on the horizon <br />Bob Hedrick, executive director of the N.C. Providers Council, which represents private service providers, said families <br />and advocates for the mentally ill need to give reform a little more time. <br />State leaders, anticipating a budget surplus for the first time in years, appear ready to make a significant investment in <br />the mental health system. A legislative oversight committee is seeking $155 million in state money for mental health <br />care. Hooker Odom said Gov. Mike Easley's office thinks a $100 million allocation might be doable. "This will indeed <br />be the year we will have our infusion of money," she said. <br />Hedrick said he is confident such an infusion will draw more mental health providers into communities that need <br />services. "Some people are judging mental health reform as having failed when in fact it's just getting started," he said. <br />Meanwhile, parents such as Kathi Dunphy are waiting and wondering whether their family members can hold out until <br />the help they need is available. When Jacki lived at Dix, she got art and music therapy and took workshops on cooking, <br />personal care and social skills five days a week. <br />Now, living in the rest home, her only planned activities are twice-weekly shopping trips organized by the home's staff. <br />Occasionally, her social worker takes her out for coffee. Her mother brings her home to stay with her at least one night <br />every weekend. "If they don't find her something to do, I don't think it will work," Kathi Dunphy said. "This is just not <br />going to do." <br />21 <br />