Advocacy E-News November 30, 2015
November 30, 2015
ASSAULTS ON ANCORA EMPLOYEES DECLINING
A Courier-Post analysis of public records shows such assaults are declining following a state investigation. In May 2013, as injuries climbed, an employee filed a complaint with the state Department of Labor about the hospital’s dangerous workplace conditions. The state hospital was cited for its inability to appropriately respond and manage violent disturbances and for its failure to conduct annual reviews of its violence prevention plan. After Ancora organized a violence prevention committee and began conducting monthly reviews, records show the incidents of employees injured in patient attacks dropped from 141 incidents in 2013 to 63 in the first 10 months of 2015.
N.J. WOULD BENEFIT FROM EXPANDED MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTIONS PROGRAMS
Last year, Congress passed the Excellence in Mental Health Act, a law co-sponsored by New Jersey Congressman Leonard Lance (R-7th). The Act improves Medicaid reimbursement for services, which means a sturdier financial base for provider organizations that will allow them to expand and improve services. The need is acute, in New Jersey and across the nation. Each year only four in 10 Americans with a mental health disorder receives treatment. Only one in 10 with an addiction gets help.
HOW TO HELP SAVE THOSE WITH A MENTAL ILLNESS FROM THEMSELVES
Matthew was not violent at all, and largely kept to himself. His appearance could be off-putting — he kept a long beard, did not cut his hair and smoked heavily. We constantly feared that a police officer might misunderstand his condition and that he could end up injured or killed. I cannot say with certainty that if we had been able to force treatment on Matthewthat he would have survived. But I do know that for many, treatment saves lives.
Read a Father’s OP Ed in the NY Times
NFL PLAYERS TALK OPENLY TO HELP DESTIGMATIZE MENTAL ILLNESS
Arian Foster was in a bad place, drinking heavily to self-medicate and deal with the problems in his life. The Houston Texans running back knew he needed help but was reluctant to seek it because of the stigma surrounding mental health issues. He overcame that fear, sought therapy and it changed his life. Foster has joined the Jets’ Brandon Marshall’s PROJECT 375, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating the stigma surrounding mental illnesses and disorders.
JOEL ELKES, WHO CAST LIGHT ON BRAIN CHEMISTRY AND BEHAVIOR, DIES AT 101
Dr. Joel Elkes, who published the first scientific trial of a medication for schizophrenia and became a foundational figure in modern psychiatry, describing a framework to understand how brain chemistry shapes behavior, died on Oct. 30 in Sarasota, Fla. He was 101. As a young researcher in England a pair of French doctors reported that a new antihistamine, called chlorpromazine, had a remarkably calming effect on people with schizophrenia. He and his wife tested the drug in people with schizophrenia. Chlorpromazine, known more widely by the trade name Thorazine, became the first-line treatment for psychotic symptoms, helping to end the practice of lobotomy.
SHOOTING CALLED A SUICIDE-BY-COP INCIDENT
A reportedly suicidal man came at police officers with a knife moments before they shot and killed him in Little Egg Harbor Township. A concerned family member called the department asking officers to check on the man because he was trying to harm himself. Officers arrived at the scene, but no one appeared to be home. They got inside and identified themselves when they found the man reportedly brandishing a knife. The Prosecutors Press release states that the officers told him to drop the knife, but he started moving toward them. Multiple officers fired their service weapons at the man taking him down. The report did not specify how many officer fired shots. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, which was called to investigate the officer-involved incident, found Hartnett suffered from depression and had attempted suicide several times before.
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