Evening star., 1963-02-05
Continued From Page Al

NUuSu HAVhu @bO h-A
mentally Ill and retarded, the
President said. He added:
This situation has been toll
Grated far too long. 1t has
troubled our national con-
science-but only as q prob
lem unpleasant to mention,
easy to postpone, and despair
ing Of solution"
The community mental health
center can be the focus Of care,
diagnosis, rehabilitation and
emergency service, he said. It
would operate day and night,
for inpatients and outpatients.
1t would aim at prevention as
well as treatment.
Such centers. using new
methods Of treatment and
tranquilizers, will reduce the
treatment periods to weeks OF
months, rather than years, the
President said. This means
that mental illness could be
paid for as other medical and
hospital costs.
The President emphasized
his interest In mental health
and retardation problems by
limiting his proposals today to
those fields.
He plans to send Congress
Thursday another special mes
sage recommending action to
meet urgent needs in the field
of general health, including re-
newal Of his medicare propos-
ais.
A broad new mental health
program launched now, Mr..
Kennedy told Congress, will
make it possible within a
decade or two to reduce the
number Of patients now under
custodial care by so per cent
or more" An estimated 600, 900
persons are now hospitalized as
mental patients.
Mr.. Kennedy said the pro-
gram he had outlined is de-
signed to use Federal resources
to stimulate State, local and
private action to supplant "the
cold mercy of custodial isola-
ton" with the open warmth
of community concern"
Health Centers Are Heart
The proposed o m m unity
health centers would be the
heart Of this project. Federal
aid in financing the stating
Of the centers would taper off
over a four-year period.
He suggested that such cen.
ters could be added to COM
munity general hospitals, or
could involve construction Of
completely separate facilities.
Declaring that long-range
Federal subsidies for operating
costs are neither necessary or
desirable, he said the services
provided by these centers
should be financed in the same
way as other medical and hos
pital costs.
He said he has directed Sec
retary Of Health. Education
and Welfare Celebrezze to ex-
plore steps for encouraging and
stimulating the expansion Of
private voluntarily health in
surance to include mental
nealtn care.
Also, the President said he
has initiated q review of the
health benefits program for
Federal employees to determine
whether further measures may
be desirable to increase their
provisions for mental health
care.
Until the community mental
health center program gets well
under way. Mr. Kennedy urged
Federal grant aid to encourage
State mental institutions to
improve the quality Of care pro-
vided their patients. =
He also urged expansion Of
research in mental illness and
of efforts to promote training
of more psychiatrists, social
workers and psychiatric nurses.
Compares Retardation
Turning TO mental retarda-
ton, the President noted that
this affliction disables 20 times
as many people as tuberculosis
and 600 times as many as in
fantile paralysis. He said there
are between S million and 6
million mentally retarded chill
dren and adults in the country,