A host of new treatments are on the horizon. Withholding the newest psychiatric advances from individuals coping with brain disorders is equivalent to forcing polio victims to continue receiving treatment on iron lungs. Virginia operates nine public psychiatric hospitals . Combined admission data shows that only 7,800 individuals are assisted annually by these institutions, which are starved for adequate resources just to provide basic, safe and humane care. A least one half million Virginians have relatives with a serious mental illness in their families .
Families provide vital support and direct care for their ill loved ones.
These individuals represent the first generation of Virginians with serious mental illnesses who have lived under the policies of deinstitutionalization - which restricted admission to state hospitals yet offered inadequate care in the community. Their own parents, often the primary caretakers, are now decreasing in their capacity to help their loved ones manage chronic illnesses that require constant care. Over 18,000 of the homeless sheltered in Virginia each year are individuals with serious mental illnesses. This does not include the unsheltered, among whom the mentally ill are disproportionately represented. Virginia ranks 35 th in the nation in our ability to link mentally ill offenders with basic community care that would prevent their re-incarceration.