~ 10 years catering to the mentally ill, but still a long way to go~
The opening of Mental Health Foundation (MHF) ten years ago was a huge stride for St. Maarten, as for the first time in the country’s history mental health patients could seek some form of medical help right here at home.
Before MHF’s existence, the options for mental health patients were “grim, bleak and sometimes hopeless.” Many were ignored and were not tolerated in the community. Some would be hidden away in basements or shacks behind houses or some other secured location. Some were locked awayinjail because there was nowhere on island to treat them, while others were sent to Capriles Clinic for mental patients in Curacao, or sometimes to the Netherlands, if the patient was considered dangerous.
As the Foundation marks ten years of operation, it is thankful for the strides it has been able to make in mental health care, in raising awareness and reducing stigma; but it is also cognisant that there is still a very long way to go to reach where it wants to be.
The Foundation is also faced with numerous challenges. Its biggest challenge right now is financing. Government stopped giving subsidy to MHF in 2015 and the Foundation is still looking for a structural way of meeting its financial obligations, primarily via Social Health Insurance SZV and other insurers, said Director Pieter “Pyt” Lucas.
He said too that MHF is located in the former Sylvia Hotel which is in desperate need of renovation. It is also challenging to offer proper education to MHF staffers, which the foundation would like to improve. MHF would also like the KZ law for involuntary care to be revised.
MHF was formed on paper in 2002 by the former Island Territory of St. Maarten. It, however, only became physically active in 2006, when the first office opened. The purpose of the foundation is to cater to the mental health care needs on the island. It was clear that mental health care needed to be organised for soon to be Country St. Maarten at the time.
MHF’s first location was at L.B. Scott Road #107A and the now retired Eileen Healy was the Foundation’s first director. Like today, the initial challenges had been financing, Lucas said.
MHF opened its doors with six staff members and today it boasts a total of 41 full-time employees, some replacement nurses, volunteers and interns.The staff also includes two psychiatrists; three psychologists, two of whom specialise in children and youth; five case managers and eight staff for Faraja Center and nine nurses. Lucas said the staff still needs to grow.
Administrator Lila Jones and Admission Coordinator Elena Reyes have been with the foundation since the inception.
MHF currently has a total caseload of approximately 1,500 patients, divided over all the various departments. In 2008 alone, the foundation treated a total of 255 patients.
Lucas said the growth was realised because mental health care was very much needed on the island and awareness efforts made the populationaware that care was available locally.
At MHF’s first location on L.B. Scott Road, it initially only offered services in clinic care (outpatient care), and “slowly, but surely” the day treatment centre began and later ambulant care and crisis intervention were added. During that period, a psychologist also began doing psychological counselling and testing of patients.
In MHF’s current building at Leopard Road, MHF operates a clinic, a Day Treatment Center (Faraja Center), short and long-stay apartments (guided living), ambulant care (and crisis intervention), an admission ward, and offers information and prevention.
Asked what the formation of MHF 10 years ago meant for St. Maarten and mental health patients, Lucas said it represented: “A landmark for country of St. Maarten to have its own mental health facility, a place where patients could finally receive the necessary treatment and be relieved of their mental health symptoms. For family members of our patients, MHF became a place not just offering treatment for their loved ones, but also offering support and guidance.”
He said MHF has made numerous strides over the years, including obtaining the building in which it is currently located and being able to offer the care products it now offers, enabling MHF to give full psychiatric care to those in need in the country.
As it looks towards the future, MHF would like to develop child psychiatry, as well as forensic psychiatry and would like to relocate the MHF facility. Its other plans are outlined in MHF’s multi-annual policy plan 2016– 2018.
The Foundation thanked everyone involved in the development of MHF, particularly the main stakeholders; previous and current Board of Directors, the Department of Public Health, Social Development and Labour VSA, SZV and the Health Council.
