All entries tagged with “Robin Williams”

Town Hall to Tackle Mental Health from Sandy Hook to Robin Williams

Posted by Jacob Ogles on Tuesday Aug 19, 2014 10:54 am

From the Sandy Hook shootings to the death of Robin Williams, a remarkable number of national news stories have put mental health in the headlines. Locally, the topic had been an underlying issue in the attempts to address homelessness in the region. Now, a pair of Congressmen want to tackle the matter at a public forum today at New College of Florida.

U.S. Rep. Buchanan, R-Sarasota, is hosting a town hall at the Sainer Pavilion with special guest U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pennsylvania. Murphy has spearheaded an effort to pass the Mental Health Crisis Act, a bill which could transform the way the nation deals with the mentally ill. The meeting begins today at noon and has already seen 200 RSVPs.

"We have seen in the last 20 years more serious problems with the lack of treatment for the mentally ill," said Murphy, a psychiatrist by trade. He notes that 70 years ago, the country had nearly 600,000 inpatient psychiatric beds for a population of roughly 150 million people. Today, the nation's population has grown beyond 316 million but the number of inpatient psychiatric beds has dropped to fewer than 40,000.

Buchanan, who right now co-chairs the Florida Congressional Delegation with Democrat Alcee Hastings, hopes to see strong bipartisan support for the act among Florida's representatives. Murphy and Buchanan said Hastings has been highly supportive, and that the matter will be a benefit throughout Florida.

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