Elderly, homeless fall through cracks of mental health system

Thursday, Dec. 6, 2001 | 9:41 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Two shortcomings in the state's mental health system involve the treatment of the elderly and the homeless, a state executive said Tuesday.

Carlos Brandenburg, director of the state division of Mental Health and Developmental Services, said many senior citizens are reluctant to use mental health services because they fear that a stigma is attached. He estimated that one-third of the homeless people are mentally ill and, he said, there are limited services for these individuals.

Testifying before a task force for the Fund for a Healthy Nevada, Brandenburg said his agency is developing a strategy to fill this gap in the mental health system.

Historically, Brandenburg said, the elderly have "under-utilized" the mental health system. "We notice a lot of older adults who are undiagnosed and untreated for such things as depression and alcoholism," Brandenburg said after the meeting.

The suicide rate for elder Nevadans is one of the highest in the nation, he said.

The state Aging Division has given a grant to Brandenburg's agency to hire two social workers for a pilot program in Las Vegas to go into the community, contact these seniors and offer them counseling or refer them to mental health agencies.

These seniors "might fear there is a stigma" or they may not have transportation to get to the mental health centers, Brandenburg said.

Half of the mentally ill homeless also have drug and alcohol problems, he said. Nevada was one of eight states that participated recently in a homeless policy academy in Santa Fe, N.M. Marybel Batjuer, Gov. Kenny Guinn's chief of staff, was a co-chairman for the two-day session.

The task force, headed by Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, is charged with sending money from the tobacco settlement to fund health programs.

Brandenburg told the group his budget this year is $134 million with 1,150 employees. Of that, 56 percent goes to the Southern Nevada mental health program, 26 percent to Northern Nevada, 6 percent to Lake's Crossing, which handles the mentally ill people who are accused of a crime, and 11 percent goes to rural Nevada.

Since 1995 Brandenburg said the division has put a "great deal of emphasis" on developing community based services -- treating those with mental problems in the community, rather than putting them in a secure state hospital in Las Vegas or Reno.

A 1999 national survey ranked Nevada 35th in the nation in spending on mental health programs, Brandenburg said, but rated it at 20th in the nation in spending for community-based services.