New Fund to Help Improve Availability of Mental Health Care in Twin Cities

The Community Mental Health Fund of Minnesota Community Foundation, St. Paul, has awarded grants totaling $1.6 million to four organizations working to address mental health issues in the Twin Cities. In addition, the Fund announced that it will grant an additional $1.8 million by the year's end.

Several local health care plans have created the new Fund to pool their resources and help community-based organizations address growing mental health issues in Minnesota. Partners in the Fund include Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, HealthPartners, Inc., Medica Health Plans, Preferred One Community Health Plan and UCare Minnesota Health Plan.

"During a time when the nation is focused on improving mental health programs, this unique partnership responded quickly with resources to create positive change for the community," said Minnesota Community Foundation president Judi Dutcher. "Minnesota Community Foundation is proud to support this innovative work addressing systemic change, stimulating new initiatives and ultimately serving some of our most vulnerable citizens."

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about one in five adults over the age of 18 suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year, and 18.8 million adults suffer from a depressive illness, such as major depression or bipolar disorder, within a given year. The frequency of mental health disorders in Minnesota mirrors the rest of the nation, according to Donna Zimmerman, HealthPartners vice president of government and community relations and chair of the Community Mental Health Fund, but she says the state falls short in providing adequate care.

For example, The Minnesota Hospital Association reports that finding appropriate treatment for a person with a complex mental illness can take at least 20 to 30 attempts.

"The subject of mental illness and how the health care system responds is of critical interest to all of the businesses involved. But it's also a very complex issue that needs addressing on the federal, state and local levels," said Zimmerman. "We wanted to find a way to make an immediate impact at the community level through the work of community-based organizations."

The dollars are already making a difference in the lives of individuals living with mental health disorders. People Incorporated, a nonprofit providing community-based support in Anoka County, received a $243,000 grant from the Fund and has since opened a 24-hour mental health center for people facing a mental health crisis.

"Receiving this grant is a huge deal. It allowed us to immediately open our facility, which means people with mental illness can stay out of a locked hospital ward or jail and get a homelike, supportive environment," says executive director Dr. Ken Burkett.

Other recipients of grants from the Community Mental Health Fund are:

• Ramsey County Community Human Services received a $1 million grant to form the East Metro Adult Crisis Stabilization Collaborative, a comprehensive and integrated crisis response system that will augment current inpatient services in the east metro area.
     
• Carver County was awarded $123,600 for its Comprehensive Mental Health Crisis Project. The grant will assist in expanding a 12-hour a day program to a round-the-clock program, which the group hopes will reduce hospitalizations and emergency room visits.
     
• The Regions Hospital Foundation, St. Paul, received a grant of $300,000 to help purchase an eight-unit apartment building to provide transitional services to people who are ready to leave the hospital but are not yet ready to return home.

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