SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 53

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

Mary Kay Papen

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE INTERAGENCY BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PURCHASING COLLABORATIVE AND ITS MEMBER DEPARTMENTS TO JOIN ADVOCATES AND PROVIDERS IN DEVELOPING AN EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH PSYCHOTIC MENTAL ILLNESSES.

     WHEREAS, true preventive treatment of all diseases is an attractive but elusive measure to improve or maintain quality of life; and

     WHEREAS, serious mental illness has been established as a biologically based illness affecting the brain; and

     WHEREAS, serious mental illness refers specifically to psychotic illnesses, including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, clinical depression and others; and

     WHEREAS, about one-half of persons living with a serious mental illness have poor insight and fail to recognize the debilitating effects of the disorder, which hinders effective treatment; and

     WHEREAS, about one percent of the population has a serious mental illness with poor insight; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has approximately nineteen thousand persons suffering from a serious mental illness with poor insight; and

     WHEREAS, the functionality of a person decreases with each psychotic break; and

     WHEREAS, time required for recovery from a psychotic break increases after each successive incident; and

     WHEREAS, approximately ten to fifteen percent of all persons suffering from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia die from the illness through suicide; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has a shortage of acute adult psychiatric hospital beds available for persons with serious mental illness, as compared with national standards, and this shortage reduces access to hospitalization; and

     WHEREAS, many of those suffering from serious mental illness end up homeless and incarcerated; and

     WHEREAS, those suffering from mental illness now total approximately one-fourth of the state's jail population; and

     WHEREAS, many of the state's jails are not physically equipped to segregate a mentally ill person from others; and

     WHEREAS, many jails lack psychiatric expertise available to evaluate or treat a mentally ill person; and

     WHEREAS, the impact on a person suffering from a serious mental illness is more than just psychological, as serious mental illness with poor insight affects a person's ability to be and remain employed, the ability to obtain housing and the ability to be involved in and maintain personal relationships; and

     WHEREAS, preventive measures are limited for effective treatment of serious mental illness; and

     WHEREAS, there is often conflict between possible medical practices and civil liberties when treating those with poor insight into their mental illness;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the interagency behavioral health purchasing collaborative, through the behavioral health planning council, be requested to join other stakeholders to develop humane and effective strategies to implement an early intervention program serving persons with serious mental illness and who have poor insight in order to reduce the numbers of persons incarcerated, treated in long-term acute hospital care or homeless and to improve the quality of life and increase productivity of those living with a serious mental illness; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that stakeholders include representatives of the department of health, the human services department, the aging and long-term services department and the children, youth and families department; the single statewide behavioral health entity; the New Mexico behavioral health institute at Las Vegas; the New Mexico hospital association; the protection and advocacy system; the New Mexico association of counties; at least four peers or consumers who are patients representing the local behavioral health collaborative and their constituents; the national alliance on mental illness, representing consumers and families; and consultants or their designated experts from the national institute of mental health; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the interagency behavioral health purchasing collaborative be requested to report its findings to the appropriate interim legislative committee by December 1, 2009; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the interagency behavioral health purchasing collaborative; to the secretaries of health, human services, aging and long-term services and children, youth and families; and to the behavioral health planning council.

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