In the Saturday West Central Tribune, health beat reporter Anne Polta writes in Frailties of mental health system laid bare at local meeting:
Kandiyohi County has a better array of mental health services than many rural Minnesota counties. But there aren’t enough of them, and it’s still a struggle for people to obtain mental health services close to home when they need them.
Timely access to help, especially for those in need of specialized mental health services, emerged at a local roundtable discussion Friday as one of the key gaps in the region.
And change must take place sooner rather than later, a mental health case worker told the 75-some people present.
“We need this to happen soon,” she said. “We have people out in the trenches trying to help people who are hurting.”
Read the report about the session. Deep in the article, there's this:
Rep. Mary Sawatzky, D-Willmar, helped organize Friday’s session. She drew spontaneous applause when she told the audience, “I’m not trying to move the needle a little bit. I’m trying to move the needle a lot.”
While Sawatzky is a social conservative on marriage equality and reproductive health (unlike the minority party, where there are no pro-choice members and pro-equality members save one faced fierce opposition, the DFL House Caucus includes members who differ on both social issues), the special education teacher is a champion for education and mental health services in greater Minnesota.
Sawatzky faces a well-funded challenge from Dave Baker, who is running because he objects to gains Minnesota workers have made with wages and labor laws. MinnPost's calculation of Minnesota's most competitive House districts ranks this seat as highly competitive.
Sawatzky and Baker will debate on Pioneer Public Television's Meet The Candidates on October 9 at 9 p.m. The show invites questions from viewers.
Photo: Mary Sawatzky.
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