密歇根新闻广播 监狱不是治疗疾病的地方

 

More than 300 thousand people in Michigan depend on public mental health care, and the state is wrestling with the question of who should oversee¹ and administer those services.

Michigan is debating whether mental health funding will be taken away from community mental health groups and transferred instead to private insurers in Michigan’s Medicaid Health plans.

Tom Watkins has played an important role in delivering services for people struggling with mental health issues, substance abuse disorders² and developmental disabilities. Among many positions he’s held in a wide-ranging career, Watkins was the director of the Michigan Department of Mental Health under Governor Blanchard.

During the past four years, he’s been the director of the Detroit Wayne Mental Health Authority. He's stepping down this week after deciding not to renew his contract.

On the decision not to renew his contract, Watkins says simply it’s time to move on to something different. He’ll spend time with his 90-year-old father and visit China. He eventually plans to reestablish his consulting business.

Watkins says the public mental health system in Michigan is doing great things to serve people in need, but there’s definitely room for improvement and a need for further investment. After Michigan decided³ to shutter⁴ numerous mental healthcare facilities in the 1990’s, Watkins says Michigan is now grappling with how it wants people in need of mental health services to be treated.

“We have to decide if we are really going to allow our jails and our prisons to become the de facto psychiatric facilities, which they have been in this state and across the nation,” Watkins said.

Past policy decisions have a way of catching⁵ up with us, Watkins says, and we’re in that moment now when it comes to providing mental health services. He says integration⁶ of care is the approach that makes the most sense, and what should be done.

“How do you separate your behavioral health, your mental health, your substance abuse [healthcare] needs, from your physical health? You’re one body, one soul,” Watkins said. “The question is not if, the question is how and when?”

He says Michigan should have a system of care that’s accessible, and transparent⁷ to the public, and shouldn’t be in the hands of private companies. Yet Watkins says private insurers shouldn’t be seen as the enemy, just that the values and initiatives of providing an integrated system of healthcare should be led by the public via the state government.

Listen to the entire conversation with Tom Watkins, who’s stepping down as Director of the Detroit Wayne Mental Health Authority, above.

1 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

2 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 shutter   

n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置

参考例句：

• The camera has a shutter speed of one-sixtieth of a second.这架照像机的快门速度达六十分之一秒。
• The shutter rattled in the wind.百叶窗在风中发出嘎嘎声。

5 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

6 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

7 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。