When Governor Ed Rendell decided it was a good idea to shutter most of our state hospitals in 2010, he unwittingly unleashed a Mongol horde of seriously ill people into the Lehigh Valley and rest of the state. State funding was set aside to house some, but not enough, of them. As a result, homeless encampments have exploded for some. Others have found homes in our jails. Still more have ended up at Gracedale. In the meantime, Northampton County has just 13 beds at Wernersville State Hospital for the sickest of the sick. So what is county government doing to deal with those who suffer from mental illness? Cathy Kromer, Deputy Administrator of NorCo Mental Health Division, told County Council last month that her department is doing what it can, even though it may seem like little more than a finger in the dike to stop a flood of seriously mentally ill people from cascading into our community.
Today's one-liner: “In a republican nation whose citizens are to be led by reason and persuasion and not by force, the art of reasoning becomes of first importance.” T Jefferson
Local Government TV
Tuesday, June 02, 2026
Our Mental Health Crisis
15 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
“I know a number of seriously mentally ill people.”
ReplyDeleteEveryone reading this blog knows at least one.
Hopefully they continue to fund your treatment.
honestly, people make runs at Bernie all the time. This one was actually funny
DeleteIt was a mistake. The bigger mistake is nothing has been done to right this trainwreck in over 15 years.
ReplyDeleteHaving lost a loved one who was mentally ill to an easily treatable cancer (she didn't trust those attempting to treat her), it's tragic to see politicians indulge mental illness and call it treatment. We've made zero progress treating those who are mentally sick. Hell, we've gone back to electroshock.
ReplyDeleteGracedale as a county-owned home is carrying far more than a ‘normal’ share of seriously mentally ill people. This has created situations where younger mentally ill people attempt to escape(if they cannot make medical decisions on their own) , where they demand LOA (and must be given them if are capable of making medical decisions on their own) and return to campus with drugs, under the influence, bringing in knives, and staff are not permitted by law to search them. These patients have burned out their families and have nowhere left to go. The burdens on staff are severe; staff are regularly verbally and physically abused, resulting in enormous turnover. Mental hospitals should not have been closed without a strong local community program in place to receive them. The older, frailer residents of Gracedale deserve peace in their lives and these residents bring nothing but chaos.
ReplyDeleteAllentown State Hospital did not ever update its process for caring for the mentally ill. Its rules and regulations were stifling and outrageous. Employees apparently had serious injuries from patients. Elopements were common. Yet staff members were devoted to their jobs (similar to county workers at Gracedale). While state hospitals were closing and many sent to nursing homes, no one trained nursing home staff (then and probably now) how to care for these patients. Hence - the issues that have contributed to Gracedale as a one star facility.
ReplyDeleteI remember the BIG OUTCRY across America when Then President Ronald Reagan cut back on the Federal Funding for the individuals with mental health issues. The population of our prisons skyrocketed because of the mentally ill individuals becoming street vagrants and being arrested and our prisons were over populated with these people who should be in treatment programs but instead were treated as criminals. The Federal dollars ceased and the States had to find ways to handle the funding crisis or reduce the funding with state dollars to these institutions. It wasn't just Rendell. It started with Reagan and his cuts to these programs including the huge cuts he made to Social Security.
ReplyDeleteThe enemies of Gracedale will never stop trying to destroy it. They don’t even begin to understand the challenges.
ReplyDeleteYou mean the challenges of bringing in a mental health resident who does not want to be there? Nursing home regulations were/are different than mental health facilities plus placing otherwise physically healthy individuals whose only plan is to
Deleteescape with the frail elderly. whose only plan is to survive.
Quick Google search: "As President (1981): Reagan signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, which repealed the Mental Health Systems Act and cut federal funding for community mental health centers. This severely restricted the outpatient support systems needed to handle patients exiting institutions.
ReplyDeleteWhile the "deinstitutionalization" movement (shifting from hospitals to community care) started in the 1960s under President Kennedy, Reagan’s policies aggressively accelerated this shift and defunded the outpatient infrastructure required to support these individuals"
I will always associate Reagan's erra with the first time I've heard "homeless" used as a general term for the masses of people who were then found with out a roof over their heads either thru the policies to remove people, including many veterans, from mental health facilities along with crushing of worker's rights which also contributed to the homeless problem.
The homeless will gravitate toward larger cities as a means of survival which then becomes a burden the cities do not have the means without the larger state/federal assistance to handle. Until the federal government steps up with an overall budget or law to help the homeless, they will continue to multiply all around us and all our cities will look like a Los Angeles sidewalk.
And NOW, the Rest of the Story: stop blaming rendell for what kennedy started
ReplyDeletePresident John F. Kennedy initiated the push to close large mental hospitals with the Community Mental Health Act of 1963. He envisioned a system where patients received humane care in community centers. This deinstitutionalization movement aimed to shift from custodial warehousing to localized, outpatient treatment
Yep. This was a deeply personal issue for JFK. His sister Rosemary was institutionalized at a young age.
DeleteIt is truly sas to see the mentally ill inmates in the jail. They end up there because they didn't have adequate housing for them when they have an episode or they just can not function in today's society. So they end up in a jail. Remember it is a jail not a hospital. And for those individuals it gets a lot worse. They are taught the wrong way to live in society by other inmates. And it only make them decline not progress to getting back in to society. It truly is ashame.
ReplyDeleteAnon 9:26 and 9:55 - Mental health care is not an issue that should be paid for or subsidized by the federal government. Each state should decide what type of treatment they want to give, how much to spend for it, and how to raise the funds to pay for the spending they approve for it.
ReplyDeleteNothing that the federal government does is free or efficient. Its involvement in regular health insurance has caused monthly health insurance payments to exceed mortgage payments. Providing more federal funding for college has not made college less costly or more affordable. I could go on and on, and there are too many examples to cite in a short post.
Bottom line: we should fear more involvement from the federal government, not support it
Bernie this is going to be a good place for you.
ReplyDelete