Because ignoring Arkansas just isn't fair
When's the last time I wrote about Arkansas? Maybe never. It's one of those states that's simply not on my radar. Once my car broke down there. And I did consider going to school there for an MFA in Translation -- which I'm guessing would be just as useful as my Bachelor's in Creative Writing.
But by golly, it's Mental Health Awareness Week in Arkansas, and a candlelight vigil in Fayettville highlighted (heh) the need for more resources. From the Northwest Arkansas Times:
[The Mental Health Association's John] King said a big need for mental health patients in Northwest Arkansas is a nonprofit inpatient care center. He said he hopes that spreading awareness in the community might address that need better.“ Some of the people that came (to the vigil ) will go home and ask what they can do, ” he said.
Comments
Hey Liz.
Part of me is a mental health advocate & another part is an advocate of Arkansas being a pretty cool place.
While I don't live there anymore, I worked for four years towards strengthening the mental health system at a major medical center. That's finally going to come true next year with the completion of this:
http://www.uams.edu/growing/projects/psychiatry.asp
I've never seen so many people committed to providing mental health care to rural areas. Arkansas has to get creative in the way it does things because it is the second poorest state in the nation (thanks Mississippi!). But mental health treatment is alive & well down in those parts.
Slowly but surely.
Peace.
Posted by: gemellen | October 8, 2007 05:17 PM