Towsend appointed to mental health panel

Single Sign-On: You can use Facebook account to log in to LasVegasSun.com. (We will use your first and last name from your profile.)
Trusted Commenting: Facebook connected users automatically become trusted commenters.

Friday, June 14, 2002 | 10:15 a.m.

Veteran State Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, has been appointed by President Bush to a new national commission on mental health.

Townsend, who chairs the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee and is a member of the Senate Human Resources and Facilities and the Taxation committees, joins a board that is charged with developing recommendations to improve the nation's mental health care delivery system.

The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health will be chaired by Dr. Michael Hogan, the director of the Ohio Department of Health for the last 10 years. The commission will hold its first meetings Monday through Wednesday.

Townsend, 55, is a longtime advocate for improving access to mental health care.