Minnesotans rally against a ‘broken healthcare system’
Hundreds of people from throughout the state gather to take a stand against the buried issue of mental health.
By Mason Bona, Rowan Shaw | Freelance Writers
“Whose house is this?” yelled Patrick Rhone, President of the Mental Health Board of Minnesota.
“Our house!” Resounded the mass of mental health advocates crammed into the confines of the St. Paul Capitol building rotunda.
At 11 a.m. March 9, a crowd took time out of its day to gather in St. Paul Capitol Building Rotunda, advocating for better funding for mental health care programs in Minnesota, as well as for increased incentives for people to begin careers in social work and healthcare. Rhe group rallied around mental health experts’ testimonies regarding issues they feel exist within Minnesota’s statewide healthcare system. Founders of mental health facilities and programs, as well as parents and legislators, spoke over a crowd that sought immediate change.
Speakers complained that for decades, access to mental health care not only in Minnesota, but all over the U.S. has been very limited. They mentioned Thigh prices for private care, low funding for public care and ignorance of the issue entirely have led to too many people battling depression, anxiety, social disorders and several other harsh conditions on their own.
One speaker said he runs a facility for mental healthcare for kids, not only because most available services are adult-oriented, but also because access to mental healthcare for people of all ages in his area is severely limited. The children he works with have dealt with more mental trauma than most,he said, with them having grown up in various foster homes often without strong parental figures to guide them.
“There has been significant systematic underinvestment in mental healthcare for years on end,” said Craig Warren, CEO of the Washburn Center for Children.
Applause erupted from throughout the rotunda following Warren’s speech.
“Anna grabbed a glass bottle and slit her wrist, then fell to the ground crying for help. If the system won’t help people like Anna, then who will?”–Abigail Morgan, mother
Another speaker, a mother, took the podium and gave her testimony. She began by asking the crowd how many among them had lost a loved one to suicide, and at least 50 hands shot into the air. She then explained that she had adopted a girl several years ago, who had been suffering from mental instability since she was very young. Over time her adopted daughter, Anna, would be tossed between schools, rejected by hospitals, and “treated” by numerous mental care facilities, each of them providing inadequate care and lacking the resources to meet Anna’s needs. Anna’s issues progressed to the point that her mother couldn’t go a day without wondering whether or not her daughter would be alive to see the sunrise.
“Anna grabbed a glass bottle and slit her wrist, then fell to the ground crying for help. If the system won’t help people like Anna, then who will?” said Abigail Morgan, Anna’s adopted mother.
Morgan said the mental health facilities available to children in Minnesota right now are not effective, either because they are so expensive that long term care is unrealistic, or they just aren’t funded well enough nor equipped to handle the most severe cases of mental health conditions.
Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan made sure that the crowd knew their concerns were being heard and acknowledged.
“It is a priority for the governor and I,” said Flanagan in reference to the demand for more funding for school based mental health programs.
“You know more than [the legislators] do,” Flanagan told the crowd. “Ask for what you deserve.”
The rally ended at noon, and delegates from the rally group went on to sit down and meet personally with various state legislators.
