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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, Behavioral healthcare disparities exist across | ||||||
3 | Illinois, and these
disparities include underserved | ||||||
4 | populations with behavioral health care needs as
one of their | ||||||
5 | immediate, acute, chronic or co-morbid condition; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Behavioral health care disparities include | ||||||
7 | racial, ethnic, and rural behavioral health disparities, | ||||||
8 | underserved, or professional shortage areas; and
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9 | WHEREAS, The mental well-being of young people and their | ||||||
10 | ability to not use
alcohol or other drugs is strongly linked to | ||||||
11 | their academic success; helping
students stay healthy is a | ||||||
12 | fundamental mission of schools; and
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13 | WHEREAS, According to the US Surgeon General, | ||||||
14 | approximately 50% of children
with emotional disturbances and | ||||||
15 | behavioral disturbances drop out of school; and
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16 | WHEREAS, According to the Centers for Disease Control, | ||||||
17 | suicides are among the
leading cause of death for the ages of | ||||||
18 | 15 through 54; and | ||||||
19 | WHEREAS, County coroners in Illinois report that in some | ||||||
20 | counties the suicide
rate has doubled since 2002 while in other |
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1 | counties the suicide rate has increased
in recent years; and | ||||||
2 | WHEREAS, According to the Department of Defense Annual | ||||||
3 | Suicide Report,
suicides in the military started climbing | ||||||
4 | considerably in 2005, and the trend has
not abated; and | ||||||
5 | WHEREAS, Cook County Jail is the largest "mental | ||||||
6 | institution" in the State due to
its active inpatient | ||||||
7 | psychiatric population, and there are over 1700 people on
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8 | psychotropic medication for treatment of bipolar disorder, | ||||||
9 | clinical depression,
and schizoaffective disorder in the jail; | ||||||
10 | and | ||||||
11 | WHEREAS, In Cook County Jail, 80% of the women who are | ||||||
12 | there have a
chronic mental illness, and 80% of the women in | ||||||
13 | that jail are the sole
caretakers of their children; and | ||||||
14 | WHEREAS, Illinois courts, municipal and county jails, and | ||||||
15 | the juvenile justice
system have direct contact with many | ||||||
16 | individuals who could be diverted away
from these systems if | ||||||
17 | behavioral health care services were available to them; | ||||||
18 | therefore, be it | ||||||
19 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
20 | NINETY-EIGHTH
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
21 | the Governor, through the use of
education, outreach, |
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1 | technology, and innovation, should seek to empower and engage | ||||||
2 | individuals
and communities where behavioral healthcare | ||||||
3 | disparities exist; and be it further | ||||||
4 | RESOLVED, That we urge the administration to work with the | ||||||
5 | 98th General Assembly to
develop strategies to remediate | ||||||
6 | behavioral health disparities in areas and regions of the State | ||||||
7 | with
poor access to behavioral health care treatment or | ||||||
8 | services, with high rates of trauma, or with
high rates of | ||||||
9 | acute or chronic behavioral health illnesses; strategies to | ||||||
10 | remediate behavioral
health care disparities may include work | ||||||
11 | force development so that primary care physicians
and | ||||||
12 | behavioral health care clinicians would be encouraged to | ||||||
13 | practice in areas with
behavioral health disparities; and be it | ||||||
14 | further | ||||||
15 | RESOLVED, That we encourage the administration to call on | ||||||
16 | the Department of
Human Services in collaboration with the | ||||||
17 | Department of Healthcare and Family Services to
identify a | ||||||
18 | method to establish pilots for Health Homes, Systems of Care, | ||||||
19 | and Essential
Community Behavioral Health Care Providers to | ||||||
20 | address the racial, ethnic, and rural
behavioral health | ||||||
21 | disparities, underserved populations, and underserved areas or | ||||||
22 | professional
shortage designated areas; and be it further
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23 | RESOLVED, That we encourage the administration to include |
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1 | in Department of
Human Services data collation a standardize | ||||||
2 | collection and analysis of data on the
impact on racial, | ||||||
3 | ethnic, and rural health care disparities, underserved | ||||||
4 | populations, and
underserved or professional shortage | ||||||
5 | designated areas; and be it further
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6 | RESOLVED, That we encourage the administration to create an | ||||||
7 | Illinois
Behavioral Health Innovation Prize; the Illinois | ||||||
8 | Behavioral Innovation Prize
would provide public recognition | ||||||
9 | for a new intervention or program that successfully
reduces or | ||||||
10 | eliminates behavioral healthcare disparities; the goal of the | ||||||
11 | prize is to broaden
the scope of community participation and | ||||||
12 | discover new solutions that can be copied and
employed | ||||||
13 | throughout the State; and be it further
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14 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
15 | delivered to Governor Pat Quinn
and the Secretary of Human | ||||||
16 | Services.
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