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"We never ask why?" comments Mercado. "We just treat the symptoms, and rarely address the underlying issue. Let's give them a reason to stop doing that kind of behavior."
The governor's office considers mental-health reform an important issue needing change in North Carolina. It has recently appointed Dr. Richard Visingardi as head of the state's Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse. Visingardi has extensive experience as the head of a community agency in Michigan, where he supervised a $200 million program.
But the reality is that change doesn't occur at the bat of an eye, especially in the South during a sludgy economy. Infrastructural changes need to be made in order for the people in the institutions to have care when they leave those institutions. Not only that, but the communities need to be ready to support those individuals after they've left. The current budget crisis is a real roadblock because the money that needs to be used to build the infrastructure does not exist as of yet.
An article in the Raleigh News & Observer credited Visingardi with having shifted "240 staff members who worked for the county agency to a private nonprofit company." This reduced his staff to 80 employees from the 400 with which he began. The question on a lot of people's minds is: Can we afford the loss of jobs in rural areas where there are no jobs due to the death of textiles and tobacco? Furthermore, citizens can't afford the taxes needed to kick-start the programs, so where will the money come from? It will have to come from job cuts and restructuring. However, it is assumed that some jobs will be created and absorbed through specialization in the private sector.
Recent studies show a rise in developmental disabilities throughout North Carolina. This increase, combined with the fact that every person with a developmental disability will have to go to a provider agency when institutions are dismantled, exemplifies how new jobs could be created.
"The problem," says Lee Cuvington of Tri-Alliance, an umbrella organization of the Arc, "is that there is not enough equal access across the state." The hope is that under the new program, jobs will be created based on that fact.
"Things are always changing," says Polly Medlicott of Christian. "That's what you have to deal with. And I had to deal with my own feelings. Having a better attitude helps." *
