Des Moines, IA- Iowa House Republicans are proposing steps to address gaps in Iowa’s mental health care system.
Radio Iowa reports that includes state spending to add 46 psychiatric beds at the state Mental Health Institutes in Cherokee and Independence.
Republican Representative Ann Meyer of Fort Dodge says the issue came up in conversations with law enforcement and with constituents as she campaigned.
“I had so many people standing at the doors telling me 20-minute stories about loved ones that don’t have access to mental health services,” Meyer says, “that are living on the streets, that are in crisis constantly.”
One initiative would see the state spend $1.2 million to support a dozen psychiatrists-in-training from the University of Iowa who’ll be working at the two Mental Health Institutes and at the Iowa prison system’s intake center in Oakdale.
