Geography Affects Mental Health Treatment, Regional Officials Testify

By James Q. Lynch, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Jan. 31–DES MOINES — Where you stand on the success of Iowa’s mental health system may depend on where you sit — geo graphically. Mental health professionals from Linn County expressed a different perspective than their counterparts in more rural areas when they spoke to the Legislature’s Health and Human Service appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday.

“There are a lot of positive things going on in Iowa” as a result of the local planning that occurs along with state management of mental health services, according to Craig Wood of the Linn County Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Services.

When the delivery of mental health services is compared with national data, “Iowa comes out pretty good … providing services at a rate that exceeds the national average.” Half a state away the view is different, said Tom Tibbitts of Trinity Regional Medical Center in Fort Dodge.

“The system is broken. It’s a mess,” he said.

The hospital, he said, closed its mental health unit because it could not attract any psychiatrist to practice there. Of the roughly 120 board-certified psychiatrists in Iowa, he said, half are in Iowa City.

In addition to work force shortages, there is little interest among professionals to provide inpatient treatment, a lack of funding and little coordination between providers and the 99 county mental health programs, Tibbitts said.

“We have mental health care, but no system,” Tibbitts said during a discussion of a mental health system redesign lawmakers are considering.

Part of the problem, according to Dan Strellner of the Abbe Center at Cedar Rapids, is “we’re fighting each other” for resources and scarce mental health professionals. One solution discussed was allowing therapists or other “midlevel” professionals to handle some of the duties psychiatrists provide.

Contact the writer: (319) 398-8375 or james.lynch@gazettecommunications.com

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Copyright (c) 2008, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

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