commentary
CAPITOL MENTAL HEALTH DAY: ADVOCACY IN RESIDENCY EDUCATION
BY APARNA ATLURU, MD Capitol Mental Health Day occurs once every legisla- tive session and allows mental health advocates, family members, and psy- chiatrists to put on a united front in visiting with the Texas Legislature in support of policies that better men- tal health care for Texans. When the opportunity to attend Capitol Day on Feb. 19 presented itself, I was eager to participate. The 84th Texas Legisla- ture’s priority and dedicated “theme” for this year’s Capitol Day was “Treat- ment Works,” an effort to improve health care workforce recruitment. My participation in this advocacy
day was markedly dissimilar to any other conference I’ve attended as a medical professional or student. I started the day off boarding a char- tered bus in Dallas. I was the sole psychiatrist on a bus that carried vari- ous mental health advocates, most of whom had suffered from mental illness or had family members who have. As a resident physician with a background in journalism, I appreci- ated the embedded feel of this mode of transport.
During the ride to Austin, I met
an academically gifted young woman who had been diagnosed with an anxi- ety disorder, recovered with treatment, and had taken the day off from a very hectic job to spend it doing advocacy work at the Capitol. I conversed with two other women who had lost family members to suicide and who vowed to prevent that from happening to any- one else. Later on, we received lists with assignments detailing which state senator or representative each indi- vidual or team would meet. As the as- signments came about, many people started rehearsing their stories, neatly packaged into 2- to 3-minute sound bites aimed at quickly conveying their personal struggles with and triumphs over mental illness. The bus soon bel- lowed with the soft boom of 50 tales of mental illness all waiting to be heard. Some stories melded in the air, which grew humid with emotion. After a lunch at First United Meth-
odist Church across from the Capitol, an organized rally of more than 300 people took place on the front steps
of the Capitol. Impassioned speech- es were delivered about lives lost to mental illness. Others talked about indigent populations and their lack of access to mental health care. The pre- ponderance of cowboy boots paired with pinstriped suits made sure ev- eryone knew we were indeed in Texas. Afterwards, the advocates headed
off to the various legislative offices to meet with senators and representa- tives. As a resident physician, I had little knowledge of much of the legis- lation before becoming involved with Capitol Day. Two other physicians from The University of Texas South- western Medical Center, my residency training institution, had accompanied me to Capitol Day. Our main objective was to make our support known for several Senate bills aimed at increas- ing mental health access in Texas. Mental health in Texas is not, on
average, a very popular proposition. Texans are stereotypically about bar- becue and football and pulling your- self up by your (cowboy) boot straps. Thus, we anticipated resistance to our proposals. We pressed on in support of three bills: Senate bills 2, 239, and 18. SB 2 would increase funding for graduate medical education by $60 million over the biennium. SB 239 (by Sen. Charles Schwertner, a physician and state senator from Georgetown) would offer student loan repayment
Impassioned speeches were delivered about lives lost to mental illness.
April 2015 TEXAS MEDICINE 15
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