By Dave Ranney, KHI News Service, February 16, 2010
TOPEKA — In Kansas, about 350,000 people are over age 65.
Studies have found that almost 20 percent of the nation’s seniors experience mental illness, much of it associated with declining health, grief, financial insecurity, and loss of independence.
So it would appear that 70,000 Kansas seniors would have benefited from seeing a mental health counselor last year.
But at most, the state’s community mental health centers say they served about 4,000 seniors.
"We’re not reaching the people we need to be reaching with our existing programs," said Steve Denny, who runs an outreach program for seniors at the Independence-based Four County Mental Health Center.
"The needs are real," Denny said, noting that, nationally, men over age 85 have the highest rate of suicide; men between 75 and 84 have the second highest.
Denny testified Wednesday before the House Aging and Long-term Care Committee, whose members are hoping to salvage a 2009 bill that would put the Kansas Department on Aging in charge of helping seniors find the services they need.
House Bill 2057 included $53,000 for a full-time position at KDoA.
The committee heard but took no action on the bill last year because funding for it was unlikely. Now, committee members are looking for ways to steer seniors toward mental health services but without spending money.
Much of the 90-minute meeting was spent discussing whether the state has enough social workers to keep pace with the mental health needs of the state’s seniors.
Rosemary Chapin, an aging specialist at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare, said the school is "all geared up" to begin emphasizing its geriatric offerings. But without stipends, she said, few students appear interested.
Annette Graham, executive director at the Wichita-based Central Plains Area Agency on Aging, said frailty and unmet mental health needs are the "top two reasons" for seniors moving to nursing homes.