University Daily Kansan
Page 15
Nation-Wide Survey Shows Lack Of Facilitles for Emotionally Ill
WASHINGTON — (UPI) — "It stunned me—and I should know about these things."
Those were the words of a mental health official after he read the results of a nation-wide survey of hospital facilities for emotionally ill children.
The study showed what the official called an appalling lack of facilities.
The survey, made by the National Association for Mental Health and the National Institute of Mental Health, spanned four years. It was published as a guide for parents.
AMONG RESULTS were these:
● Of 500,000 children suffering from psychosis (extreme character disorders) or border-line conditions, "no more than 10,000 are known currently to be under treatment in public and private facilities."
- Only 147—or 40 per cent—of the 367 hospitals canvassed met the criteria set for the study. Of those that passed, only 20 offered both residential and day programs for children and adolescents.
Twelve states and Puerto Rico reported having no separate children's or adolescent units in state hospitals. The states were Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming. In addition, they had "no special private day facilities for seriously disturbed, schizophrenic, psychotic or borderline children."
Except for Montana, those states said there were no private residential facilities offering specialized care to children. Montana officials said "severely disturbed children are admitted to Montana State Hospital, but no specialized children's services are provided."
IN PUERTO RICO, officials said,
"two or three children are under care"
as in-patients in a non-profit
psychiatric hospital.
Two states—Louisiana and Virginia—operate segregated facilities with public funds.
The widespread practice of admitting children to adult wards leaves the children with "little or no attention," an official at the National Institute of Mental Health said.
Except for a number of state hospitals which have sliding fee scales based on ability to pay, the cost of psychiatric care is extremely expensive.
Most private institutions, which generally offer better services than the overcrowded, understaffed state hospitals, require fees that are prohibitive for middle-income families.
THE FAMOUS Menninger Foundation Clinic at Topeka, Kan., reported, for example, that the highest fees of the hospitals surveyed included: $1,000 a month for
A New York private hospital for adolescent girls charges $840 to $1,120 per month. A few hospitals offer "scholarships."
children up to age 13, and $1,200 a month for those above 13.
An extra "fee" is borne by parents of Alaskan youngsters who must be admitted to a mental hospital. The charge is the travel cost between Alaska and a Portland, Ore., hospital which, under a contract arrangement, accepts some Alaskan children. There were no mental hospitals reported in Alaska.
The greatest number of children's facilities was reported in New York, California, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Connecticut. But even these are struggling to meet needs.
Last year 155,000 children were receiving out-patient mental care. It's only a guess how many would have entered hospitals, had there been room.
"Boy Friend" Tour Film Made By Cast Members
On the tour one of them, Hoite C. Caston, graduate student, filmed the performances, the audiences, the sights and the excitement of the University Theatre cast in Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Formosa, the Philippines and Hawaii.
In the summer of 1963 two KU students from Independence were among those chosen for the USO Tour of the Pacific with the show "The Boy Friend."
One of the performers was Janice "Gigi" Gibson.
SINCE CASTON is a radio-television-film major who is also a performer, and Gigi is the theater major with quite a lot of experience in the audio and visual fields, it was natural that they combine their talents in producing the film of the tour.
Caston wrote and directed the account, and Gigi recorded the sound narration.
"NEAR PERFECT" meant working early Sunday mornings, the only time when their busy schedules didn't conflict.
"We worked on it most of last year because we both wanted it to be near perfect," Gigi explained.
This is the first time that the two Independence students have really gotten together in their mutual interests and abilities.
Fraternity and Sorority Jewelry
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8:30-5:30
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FRIDAY FLICKS
"GIGI"
Starring Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier
Plus: THE CHAMPION (A Charlie Chaplin Short)
ADMISSION 35c
FRASER THEATER 7:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
Coming: Nov. 20 - "THE SOUND AND THE FURY"