Editorial: Boon for mental health

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2005 | 9:04 a.m.

We were glad to see that increased spending for mental health did not get left out of Gov. Kenny Guinn's budget, which also proposed healthy increases for education, general health care, the state contingency fund and prison services. In past state budgets, mental health has not fared well in comparison with the amount of money other services received. This caught up with Southern Nevada last summer, when mental health patients overloaded area emergency rooms to the extent that a state of emergency was declared.

Statewide, Guinn proposed spending an extra $100 million on mental health services, about half of which would be spent in Las Vegas. This would allow the state to fully staff and open its psychiatric hospital on Jones and Oakey boulevards. The money would allow the hospital, scheduled to open in May 2006, to open with 190 beds. Original plans had called for it to be built in stages, starting with 150 beds.

The extra money would also allow children with mental illnesses to get treatment. It would keep open the 28 emergency psychiatric beds installed at Desert Regional Center to alleviate last summer's crisis. And it would address the increased need for outpatient and rehabilitation services.

The Legislature will likely make many changes in Guinn's budget. But we hope it recognizes the critical need for more mental-health resources and refrains from cutting any of the badly needed funding Guinn has proposed.