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911 mental health line

Published (3/14/2008)
By Patty Ostberg
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It’s an echo the House Mental Health Division has been hearing repeatedly from mental health advocates: Minnesota needs improvements in services to those with mental illness.

Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL-Faribault) sponsors HF3147 that would instruct the human services commissioner to convene a working group to determine the feasibility of creating a statewide toll-free telephone number for mental health crisis calls. The working group would consist of members from crisis providers, the Minnesota Ambulance Association, law enforcement, 911 call centers, consumers, families and mental health advocates.

Fritz said some counties have mental health crisis numbers, but many times the only option is to call the police or for an ambulance. She said neither can always handle the mental health episode with the most appropriate services.

The bill was approved March 7 and now goes to the House Health and Human Services Committee. A companion bill, SF3030, sponsored by Sen. John Marty (DFL-Roseville), awaits action by the Senate Health, Housing and Family Security Committee.

Dan Parnell, whose 19-year-old son was diagnosed with mental illness four years ago, told the division about a recent episode in which he knew calling the police would agitate his son even more. He had no crisis service to call that could deal with the situation most effectively, he said.

Grand Rapids has a crisis call system that has resulted in a decrease of hospitalizations of those experiencing mental episodes, as well as ambulance transports of patients to mental health facilities, said Sue Abderholden, executive director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Minnesota. A crisis line could direct callers to a mental health service that could deal with a crisis most effectively, she said.

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