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Mental Health Program Aims to Help Poor: $1.1 Million Grant Provided By

Posted on: Saturday, 29 April 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas

Apr. 29--Hogg Foundation

By MELISSA McEVER melissam@valleystar.com 956-430-6252

The Valley's poorest residents are often the least likely group to receive help for mental illness, health officials report. Many residents at or below the poverty level might never be diagnosed, much less treated.

A new program funded by a grant from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health is trying to change that.

The foundation has awarded a $1.1 million grant to Valley Primary Care Network to improve mental-health diagnosis and assessment at four primary-care clinics. The centers -- Brownsville Community Health Center, Nuestra Clinica del Valle, Su Clinica Familiar and Community Action Council of South Texas -- mainly serve patients at 200 percent of the federal poverty level or below.

The grant will help fill an important need in the Valley's federally funded community clinics, said Roy Becker, CEO of Valley Primary Care Network.

"For at least the last four to five years, there's been an emphasis on providing mental-health services in primary-care centers, but no additional funding," Becker said. "Meanwhile, our community health centers are routinely documenting the need for mental health care."

According to the network's grant proposal, the clinics' physicians estimate that about 20 percent of their adult patients might have depression or anxiety disorders, and about 5 percent of children show signs of mental illness.

The three-year grant will be used to develop a "collaborative care" model for the clinics, in which primary care and mental health providers will work together to diagnose and treat patients, according to information from the foundation. The clinics now will have clinical care managers, additional help from psychiatrists and primary care doctors trained to identify mental illness, officials said. The network also will hire clinical social workers or counselors to provide consultations and short-term therapy, according to the grant proposal.

Becker said that the heart of the plan was to provide "integrated care" -- offering mental health assessment and treatment where families usually receive primary health care.

Hogg Foundation officials were impressed with the clinics' ideas, spokeswoman Laurie Alexander, said.

"It's a very strong proposal," Alexander said. "We think (the network) can be a strong leader in moving integrated health care forward in the state."

Tropical Texas Center for MHMR, the Valley's public mental health center, will provide training and consultation for the network's doctors.

Ideally, the new model will help to make referrals to mental health services go more smoothly, Tropical Texas CEO Terry Crocker said.

"There will be more people whose needs will be identified promptly, and more people getting into services," Crocker said.

The program will kick off officially in June.

Becker is hopeful that these new services will help not only people with mental illness, but their families.

"We're looking at a significant impact on awareness (of mental illness)," Becker said. "That's one of the basic steps in solving a problem."

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Copyright (c) 2006, Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas)

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