Description
Given the evolving landscape of public health challenges, it is imperative to introduce legislation facilitating consistent prevention, management, and ongoing public awareness of these issues.
The surge in cases related to substance abuse and mental health, along with related emergencies, prompted Representative Rose Max of the 11th District in New York to champion a bill H.R.7316 (Congress, 2020); this legislation was introduced on June 24, 2020. This bill aims to establish the Emergency Mental Health and Substance Use Training and Technical Assistance Center (Congress,2020)
Providing mental health services for individuals and healthcare workers is a vital factor in reducing the burden associated with these disorders. (Milstead & Short, 2019). Addressing the trauma, mental health needs, and stress among frontline healthcare workers is essential for ensuring effective service delivery. This minimizes healthcare errors that jeopardize lives and enhances satisfaction among medical professionals and patients. The policy also addresses the mental health needs of vulnerable populations. This includes children, incarcerated individuals, and pregnant women. The proposed bill focuses on identifying mental health and substance use disorders, hence offering treatment, prevention initiatives, raising awareness, and providing recovery support.
Statistics reveal there are 20.2 million adults in the US grappling with substance abuse disorder, with 7.9 million experiencing both mental illness and substance abuse disorder (Hedden et al., 2015). The integration of a center for mental health and substance abuse is crucial due to their interconnectedness. This is where one can exacerbate the other. This health policy is pivotal for effectively training healthcare workers.
References
Congress, (2020). H.R.7316 To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the establishment or operation of a center to be known as the emergency mental health and substance use training and technical assistance center. 116th Congress 2019-2020
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/7316/textLinks to an external site.
Hedden, S. L., Kennet, J., Lipari, R., Medley, G., Tice, P. (2015). Behavioral health trends in the United States: Results from the 2014 national survey. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-FRR1-2014/NSDUH-FRR1-2014.pdfLinks to an external site.
Milstead, J. A., & Short, N. M. (2019). Health policy and politics: a nurse’s guide. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
