GOVERNOR LINGLE ANNOUNCES $14.2 MILLION AWARDED TO HAWAI`I TO TRANSFORM MENTAL HEALTH CARE

For Immediate Release: October 2, 2006

HONOLULU – Governor Linda Lingle today announced Hawai`i has been awarded $14.2 million by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) over the next five years to assist in transforming the delivery of quality mental health services across the state. 

“This important federal grant from SAMHSA is yet another step forward in building on our considerable successes over the past four years to provide the best mental health care possible in Hawai`i,” said Governor Lingle

Hawai`i is one of only two states to receive the Mental Health Transformation State Incentive grant this year.  Since 2005 a total of eight states have received awards from the highly competitive grant process.  All awardees will serve as platforms for learning about what strategies and activities work in transforming the states’ mental health and related systems.  In partnerships with these states, SAMHSA will communicate successful strategies and activities to other states, territories, and tribes and tribal organizations in order to improve and accelerate the transformation of mental health services across the nation.

To implement the grant, Governor Lingle will convene the Governor’s Mental Health Transformation Working Group to develop, implement, evaluate, and sustain a Statewide Comprehensive Mental Health Plan for transforming the organization, delivery, and financing of services for people with mental illnesses.  The group will include senior executives from departments, agencies and offices that deliver, fund, or administer services used or needed by people with a mental illness and/or their families.  Members will also include mental health advocates and service providers as well as health insurance providers. 

During the first year of the grant, a Statewide Comprehensive Mental Health Plan will be developed to transform Hawai`i’s mental health system according to the goals set forth in President Bush’s New Freedom Commission Report released in 2003.

Progress in Improving State’s Mental Health Care System

Earlier this year, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) released a report that rated Hawai`i’s mental health system as potentially “the most improved of any state.”  Hawai`i’s ranking improved from last to 11th in the nation. 

NAMI’s report, Grading the States: A Report on America’s Health Care System for Serious Mental Illnesses, included recognition of the state’s re-invention of the Hawai`i State Hospital; Dr. Thomas Hester’s leadership to turn around a failing system; an A grade for recovery supports; a transparent action plan that builds a community system with a solid foundation that can be sustainable long after court oversight leaves Hawai`i; and Governor Lingle’s leadership to help “debunk the stigma” of mental illness and to make permanent a law requiring insurance companies to treat mental illness the same as physical illnesses. 

On Nov. 30, a federal court’s 15-year oversight of the state’s mental health system will end.  In 1991, the Department of Justice sued the state over conditions at the Hawai`i State Hospital.  The lawsuit was expanded in 2002 to include a plan to provide community mental health services.  The federal court oversight of the State Hospital was lifted in December 2004. 

During today’s announcement of the grant, Governor Lingle and Lt. Governor James R. “Duke” Aiona, Jr. signed a proclamation designating the week of October 1-7, 2006 as “Mental Illness Awareness Week” and October 5, 2006 as “Bipolar Day.”  A copy of the proclamation is attached.

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For more information, contact:
Chiyome Fukino, MD
State Health Director
Phone: 586-4410

Russell Pang
Chief of Media Relations
Phone: 586-0043