CKNW Editorial
for July 10, 2001

Suppose you, along with somewhere between 1/5 and ¼ of the population, were suffering from a debilitating disease – say heart disease. Suppose that this meant that you couldn’t work like you would like … in fact were listless at best, hating it at worst. Suppose your personal life was disrupted by this ailment and many times you wondered if life was worth living. Then suppose you were told that if you would simply open this door about 80% or probably more of your fellow sufferers would get relief amounting to a cure ... that you would get your zest for life back and you’d be able to function and cope as you could before you were afflicted. Wouldn’t that be the most wonderful news?

But suppose you were told that if you went through that miraculous door you might be told to wait 6-9 months to go to another door and that your cure would have to wait. Or suppose your wife, husband, significant other told you that you were gutless if you went through that door. Or suppose you learned that your employer let other people go that had sought the treatment. Now there you would be, treatment tantalizingly in sight, afraid to go through the magic door and unsure, if you did, that there really would be help for you.

Let me put another let’s suppose to you. Suppose you fell and broke your arm and went to emergency at the hospital. Suppose after an intolerable delay you were put in a room and left there. Then suppose you were given a sedative and told to see your doctor in the morning. Then suppose your doctor told you that he didn’t really know or indeed care much about broken arms … you would have to see an orthopaedic surgeon and that would take 6-9 months but here are some pills to keep you going in the mean time. Or suppose further he didn’t give you anything at all for your pain.

If you were a member of this latter group you would storm the legislature. Except you wouldn’t have to because you and your fellow sufferers would have enough political clout that things would be fixed immediately.

If you are the one in five or one in four whose illness doesn’t happen to involve your heart, or any other part of your visible anatomy, but is a mental illness, you are like the person in my examples. For you there is better than an 80% chance of a cure in the sense that you can cope and cope well yet everything militates against you getting this cure. Society and your loved ones discourage you by word, deed, and attitude. You are sure you will lose your job if you seek help … and that at the very least people will think that you are about to do something very violent. If you do open the door, there is a fair chance that the gatekeeper won’t recognize you and if he does, will send you back for many months until a specialized gatekeeper comes along.

The situation for the mentally ill person is intolerable in this country. But I am heartened to think that under this new government things might just change.

When I last saw Premier Campbell I made him the offer I had made to his predecessor government – if I can be of any help to your government in the areas of mental health or the constitution I will be pleased to provide it. I claim no expertise in either subject, only some not inconsiderable experience. I did, as listeners will know, provide some advice to the former Minister for Constitutional Affairs … and yesterday I had lunch with the Minister of State for Mental Health, the Honourable Gulzar Cheema, MD. The meeting and what was said was, of course, off the record but any who have borne with this editorial this long, or who have listened to past programs on mental health will know what I told the minister.

When I first heard that there was to be a Minister of State for Mental Health I was dubious. After all, why should any branch of health need a special minister. But I have altered my attitude. I think it’s a damned shame that society has not matured enough to accept mental illness for what it is, an illness like any other, but it hasn’t. Because mentally ill people are often shut out of the system … whether because of their ignorance, society’s ignorance or an absence of ready assistance is irrelevant … there is a societal need to concentrate on this aspect of health care.

I am greatly heartened by what I heard from Dr Cheema yesterday. I believe he and his premier are committed to dealing effectively with the problems I and many others have raised. Now I’ve been fooled by ministers before but after yesterday’s lunch I am prepared to give Dr Cheema the benefit of the doubt and cut some slack.

There is so much to be done, So much educating to accomplish. So much changing of attitudes, public and private. So much management and union understanding and cooperation to get. But a start has to be made. And Dr Cheema has made this old skeptic believe that we are finally on our way.

He knows, however … as does his premier … that he and his government will be carefully watched every step of the way. There are too many British Columbians impacted by mental illness to have it any other way.