By Dave Ranney, KHI News Service, February 09, 2011
TOPEKA — Midway through a hearing Tuesday on mental health issues and the elderly, Rep. Bob Bethell, R-Alden, said he’d noticed that teen suicides seem to prompt more sympathy and discussion than those involving someone who is, say, in their 80s.
"Why do you suppose that is?" Bethell asked Rick Cagan, executive director of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill- Kansas.
Cagan had just finished testifying in support of a bill to create a mental health program within the Kansas Department on Aging.
Cagan hesitated.
"Here, let me answer my own question," Bethell said. "It’s because we expect the elderly to die; we don’t expect the young to die. Is that it?"
"That’s what I would have said, Mr. Chairman,' Cagan responded. "But I’m relieved that you said it instead of me.'
Earlier, Cagan had noted that among seniors, depression often goes undiagnosed and untreated.
"Our position is that treatment is possible regardless of age," he said. "And with treatment, certainly, suicide is a preventable tragedy."
According to a Kansas Department of Health and Environment compilation of death-certificate data, 61 of the 376 Kansas suicides recorded in 2009 involved people ages 65 and older.
Seniors, who represent 13 percent of the state's population, accounted for 16 percent of suicides.
Several advocates testified in favor of the bill, noting that many seniors resist contact with their local community mental health center.
"It’s because of the stigma," said Craig Kaberline, executive director of the Kansas Area Agencies on Aging Association. "Seniors don’t want to be seen going to a mental health center."
House Bill 2047 directs the Department on Aging to set up a mental health program for seniors, using the state’s area agencies on aging. It does not designate a funding stream.
“This is one of the most important issues we’ll be dealing with this session,” Bethell said. “I don’t know where the money will come or if there will even be any - but if we do come up with anything, it’ll be money well spent.”
The proposed program would require one full-time employee and has a projected annual cost of $52,580.
Bethell is a licensed nursing home administrator.
The bill was first introduced in 2007 by Bryce Miller, a longtime advocate for the mentally ill. Miller died in 2009. He was 77.
The measure’s supporters call it the Bryce Miller Bill.
No one testified against the measure.