Petition to enhance inpatient mental health care access in Iowa

I oppose closing these facilities. We need more help for the mentally ill, not less.

As someone who already works with this patient population and tries to find placements for them, all the beds at our facility and around the state of Iowa oftentimes are already full. I cannot imagine how we would meet the healthcare needs for these patients if we had even fewer resources to work with than what we already have. To say that UIHC has the resources to compensate for two facilities closing shows a complete lack of understanding of the constraints that UIHC Psychiatry is already operating under.

I have experienced first-hand the effect of a closure initiative in another state - please don't do it here!

Don't close!!! This is such an important resource to our community.

Thank you for organizing this. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Branstad's initial announcement, especially given the current state of mental health in Iowa and across the nation.

I recently heard someone say that we would not close ICUs for medical care so why are we closing the MHIs. I think long term planning would be to look at a a modern state of the art facility to serve those with persistent severe mental illness. The idea that all of our patients should be able to live in the community only demonstrates the lack of awareness of the needs of this population.

Closing Mental Health Institutes is not the answer. Having better access to mental health care is crucial to serving the people of Iowa.

Thanks to everyone so far who've added their signatures. Just to reiterate my highlight, the petition signature counter doesn't appear to be able to keep up with all the current signatures being entered. If you double what you see on the counter, you'll have a pretty fair estimate.

I am completely in support of increasing access to inpatient psychiatric care, not decreasing it.

Activism - FINALLY! Thanks for organizing this, Jim!

I don't understand the Govenor's thought process. We need more access to Psych services, whether it be in-patient or out-patient, not less.

With the increase in the suicide rate in Iowa by 17% from 2012 to 2013, the Govenor wants to close roughly 45% of the Mental Health beds in Iowa. This makes no sense at all.

There is already a severe shortage of inpatient mental health beds in the US. In 2005, Iowa ranked 4th from the bottom of public inpatient bed availability. These closures would reduce resources for Iowans even more.

It's disgusting to think one man can cut off so many ill people. Perhaps Branstad can host a few families he has tossed under the bus.

Given the tremendous numbers of people with mental illness (1% of the population with schizophrenia, 20-30% with mood disorders), closing psychiatric hospitals is both cruel and dangerous. Already too many people with mental illness have been shunted into jails, where they do not get adequate care and may be misunderstood and abused. This is a very costly alternative. We need more good inpatient and transitional facilities, not fewer.

For many severe cases, shutting these facilities down will only lead to poor patient care, management, and increased burden to their lives and others. Don't do it!

I support a new vision for enhancing inpatient psychiatric care in Iowa.