Action Alert

UPDATE: Screwy here. I've been hard at it all day, and your emails and phone calls are working. The heat is rising, and tomorrow's protest in Raleigh will be covered by all the major media outlets. Please come to the protest, organized by NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) and NCAC. I'll have more once the day is done. Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to make our voices heard.

Tomorrow at 11 a.m. we need bodies to gather at the Governor's office, 116 W. Jones St. State Capital in Raleigh. Signs saying "Save Our System" and "Fire Odom" would be appropriate.

As of this afternoon, not one Western North Carolina mental health care provider has figured out a way to stay in business under the recent (and retroactive) fee cuts. Appalachian Counseling and Families Together, two of the three major service providers for the region are planning to shut down.

The best way to help is call Health and Human Services Secretary Carmen Hooker Odom or Alan Dobson, Director of the Division of Medial Assistance, both at 919-733-4534. Or call Governor Easley at 919-733-4240

See yesterday's post for background information on the NC Mental Health Reform or go below the fold.

UPDATED: Action needed today: Call Secretary of Health and Human Services Carmen Odom at 919-733-4534. Do not let them fob you off to some "Citizen Services" phone line where you will be put on hold forever. Contact Governor Easley so he can't say he has heard no complaints, at 919-733-4240. And we're going to need LTEs.

Background information on the mental health crisis here.

Created by an Asheville mental health practitioner, this paper will be distributed to legislators in Raleigh. Feel free to use any of it in your phone calls and emails. Contact info for key legislators is at the end of the letter. Go get 'em, Hooligans!

- North Carolina’s mental health spending is near the bottom in the nation.

- Five years of constant changes to the mental health system has left a fragile core of private providers and public/private hybrids serving tens of thousands of clients and employing thousands of mental health practitioners.

We do a lot of talking and writing around here, and while that's useful to a point, there ultimately comes a time for action. That's what the theocrats are up to in this comment by Greg. And that's what we need to be up to as well.

Which is why I'm passing along this email I got from a group of progressive Democrats here in North Carolina. (I've edited it for length, so anything that doesn't make sense is all my fault.)

On January 29, 2007, a group of North Carolinians visited our NC congressional members about the War in Iraq and the potential escalation by the current administration into Iran. This effort was organized by United for Peace and Justice and allied organizations. As they met with our representatives or their Legislative Directors, the most profound theme heard in these meetings was the confession that they, our representatives, had become irrelevant in decisions about how our country imposes our narrow interests on other countries, Iraq and Iran in particular.