“To promise better treatment of our mentally ill and not
follow through would be seen as a failure to the people of the Cayman Islands.”
So the Caymanian Compass opined in a 27 November, 2007,
editorial on the plight of the mentally ill in the Cayman Islands.
At the time, we welcomed the news that government had
announced plans to dedicate money to build community based residential care
homes for the mentally ill.
“But frankly, this isn’t a discussion we should be having in
2007; almost 2008. Government should long ago have made a commitment to the
mentally ill in our society,” we continued.
Fast forward to September 2012 and guess what? We still
don’t have the facilities to care for the mentally ill among us.
The best we can do is stuff the overflow from the HSA at the
women’s prison facility at Fairbanks.
Complaints Commissioner Nicola Williams has tendered a
report to the Legislative Assembly reiterating what former Commissioner of
Corrections Bill Rattray said in 2009 – prison facilities are not the solution
to the territory’s mental health problems.
How right they both are.
While politicians have been paying lip service to this dire
situation for years, we still don’t have the facilities or services in place to
deal with mental health patients.
Yes, there are some beds at the Cayman Islands Hospital, but
it is too small to meet the needs of mentally challenged people from all three
Islands and it isn’t necessarily the right place to treat all types of mental
disorders.
Essentially, public safety authorities are forced to find
somewhere else to put mentally ill people who may pose a risk to society or
themselves, but who have committed no offence.
Mental illness respects no one. It can strike anyone at any
income level, station in life, race or creed. We continue to do this territory
a disservice by not taking care of those who face mental challenges and need
our help. It’s time for the talk to end and come up with real, tangible
answers.
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