ANOTHER MENTAL HEALTH CARE 'REORGANIZATION' HERE MEANS MORE TRAGEDY FOR
PATIENTS

Dr. D. Ray Gaskin Jr.'s excellent letter of May 7, "Well-rounded approach
used to fight alcoholism," pointed out that the disease of alcoholism and
drug dependency responds well to effective treatment.

Untreated alcoholism and drug dependence are individual, family, social and
economic disasters waiting to happen. The nub of the problem lies in access
to care, which in turn is driven by economic factors having nothing to do
with effectiveness of treatment.

In order to save money, many HMOs, insurance companies and small business
owners provide few, if any, benefits for effective alcohol or drug
dependence treatment. And publicly financed programs are generally
under-funded.

Consequently, many in the middl class and working poor experience great
difficulty in obtaining effective treatment as described by Dr. Gaskin.

Meanwhile, rumor again has it that government-funded mental health care in
Chatham County is about to undergo it's fifth bi-annual explosion
(euphemistically called reorganization) at great cost to the taxpayers of
Chatham County and, most tragically, to our patients.

I call it rumor because the news media, our health care agencies, our
governments and the public in general have been silent.

None of the issues are being examined or discussed in the bright sunshine
of public scrutiny.

I fear that by the time the public realizes what is happening the deed will
have been done, another grand scheme imposed on the public, and the seeds
planted for the next disaster two years hence. Citizens, let your
government know how you feel about this before they feed you cake instead
of bread.

GEORGE L. NEGRON, M.D.