WTVM.com and WTVM News Leader 9, Columbus, GA | Columbus Group Protesting Mental Health Cuts
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To the people boarding this bus to Atlanta, the mental healthcare cuts are personal.
"I need the physician," said Jane Marlowe, a protestor. "I need the medicine, otherwise I can't function like a normal person."
For years, Marlowe has been struggling with the ups and downs of bipolar disorder.
"I was self-medicating with drugs, trying to feel normal, and basically trying to numb out and not feel because it hurt too bad to feel my feelings," Marlowe said.
Medication and a psychiatrist have helped Marlowe get her life back. She knows, if the cuts are approved, other people might not be so lucky.
"We need more help," Marlowe said. "We need the facilities to be here for us. It's like someone with cancer. They don't take the budget cuts away from them."
The cuts proposed by the Department of Human Resources will affect services offered by Community Service Boards. Those are organizations that help the mentally ill.
"The main purpose that we hope to derive from this is to have public hearings on the DHR's proposed plan for mental health services," said Doris Keene, a former president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
That might seem like a lofty goal, but everyone on this bus, including Marlowe, is hopeful and optimistic. The Columbus chapter of NAMI started the Have a Heart Campaign, and NAMI chapters from all over the state took part in the protest.
Declining state funds are prompting the DHR to make cuts. Also, the agency is trying to equalize funding across the state. Legislators are supposed to firm-up the budget in the next 3-4 weeks.
By-Amanda Iler
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