A group of mental health advocates in Wheeling Township is working to create a body that would allocate funds to local agencies that provide services to people with mental health, developmental or substance abuse problems.
Last week, proponents reached out to the Buffalo Grove community board in support of putting a referendum question on November’s vote to create a so-called 708 board.
The Cook County portion of Buffalo Grove is in Wheeling Township.
If the 708 board is approved by voters in November, Wheeling Township would appoint the board members. The board would then conduct a needs assessment, prepare a budget for community approval, submit grant applications, and allocate funds to local providers.
Proponents stressed the need for the committee and backed their arguments with personal experience.
“This could be one of the most exciting things Buffalo Grove is a part of,” said Arlen Gould, school board member for Wheeling Township’s Basic District 21.
Gould shared his history as a special education teacher in Chicago and his work on special education and mental health issues for the state of Illinois.
“The very first thing they asked me to do in this role was to tour Lincoln (a now-closed mental institution) and Dixon (now the Mabley Developmental Center),” he said. “I will never forget the sight of people sitting and rocking on the cold floors because there were no programs.” The goal at the time was to develop local facilities for people who needed supportive care. “Mental health has really gotten worse over the past 50 years, although we’re doing a little better today,” Gould added.
Lorri Grainawi, director of the North-Northwest Suburban Task Force on Supportive Housing for Individuals with Mental Illness, said she became a member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness when her youngest son was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 20.
“Growing up he was funny and charming. He was very intelligent. He played football. He was on the high school math team,” Grainawi said. “And all that changed when he got schizophrenia. It also affected our whole family.”
After the diagnosis, Grainawi said, her son got better and started taking medication, went back to college, and got good grades. But he later stopped taking medication, as do so many people diagnosed with schizophrenia.
“My son died five years ago,” Grainawi said. “Schizophrenia didn’t kill him, but it brought him to the time and place that caused his death. He’s the reason I do what I do.”
She said a 708 board would develop a plan based on a community’s needs and would focus solely on Wheeling Township residents.
Grainawi said emergency room visits and calls to the Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health in Arlington Heights were up 22% year over year. She added that 300 Wheeling Township residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities are on a statewide list of children and adults in need of services or support. In 10 years, 28,000 children will move from special education services to this list.
Another problem that needs to be addressed is substance abuse.
In 2020, 60 Wheeling Township residents died from an opioid overdose. Another 184 residents were treated for non-fatal emergency visits and hospitalization, Grainawi said.
Proponents said to raise $1.5 million would cost an average home owner $8.55 a year. The maximum cost per $100,000 home value would be $2.25 monthly or $27.05 annually. In the Hanover community, residents paid an average of $25 to $30 a year for the 708 board, the group said.
There are advantages to such boards. Their funding helped Bloomingdale Township add social workers to local police departments, enable McHenry County to offer suicide intervention training for families and professionals, and Hanover Township to offer services to more than 5% of its population in nine months, advocates said.
Members of the Buffalo Grove Village Council questioned how customers would be prioritized for supplies once funding finally came.
“It would really be up to the agencies that provide the care,” Grainawi said. “They are the ones who will judge the people. They have multiple sources of funding.”
source https://www.bisayanews.com/2022/01/23/mental-health-advocates-float-708-board-for-wheeling-township/
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