Week kicks off with mental health vigil

By Jane Krull

Daily Staff Reporter

ABBY ROSENBAUM/Daily

RC junior Julia Klien and RC sophomore Cara Sandelands reflect during the Mentality candlelight vigil last night on the Diag.

With tears and stories of survival, an intimate circle of 20 University students, staff, and community members gathered around the bronze 'M' on the Diag last night to begin Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Recent University graduate Elizabeth Davies told about her father's continuing relationship with a schizophrenic army buddy he met in 1961. That relationship helped her father understand her bi-polar disorder diagnosis.

RC sophomore Cara Sandelands dedicated a candle at the vigil to "people who are too scared to admit they are suffering" from a mental illness, as she once was.

The campus group Mentality, which promotes education and awareness of mental health and mental illness, is sponsoring Mental Awareness Illness Week at the University and will host several events on campus.

Mentality will be posting and handing out information sheets on campus today through Wednesday.

Thursday is National Depression Screening Day. Anyone can get a free and confidential screening during the day on the third floor of the Michigan League from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Later on Thursday, a free showing of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" will take place at 8 p.m. at the Sophia B. Jones Room in the Union. A discussion about the many mental health issues the movie addresses will follow.

The highlight of the week will take place at noon Friday in the Diag with the annual "Scream-In." The screaming is in an effort to "break the silence" surrounding the issues of mental health and illness. The Scream-In will conclude with comments from the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library steps.

RC and Art junior Julia Klien said she is surprised more people don't participate in the Scream-In.

"It is very empowering," Klien said. "It is an unusual way to get awareness out."

Information booths will be set up in the Diag during the Scream-In, and community organizations will be on hand to give information on different perspectives of mental health and mental illness from noon to 5 p.m.

"This week is extremely important to us because it breaks the silence of stigmatized mental illness," said Mentality member Rebecca Messing, an Engineering junior. "Mental illness effects many more of us than believed."

Absentee Ballot, a provision in Michigan law which allows patients admitted to the hospital less than 72 hours before Election Day the opportunity to vote with a special absentee ballot. "This provision has been part of the election law for a long time. People just don't know to ask for it," program coordinator Beverly Smith said.

By the provision, a family member or volunteer acts as runner and brings the ballot to the patient, who can then vote without leaving the hospital bed. Community volunteers will play an active role in this aspect of the program, which will work in conjunction with the Washtenaw County clerk's office.

"It's a great customer service to voters of Washtenaw County," said Melanie Weidmayer, a representative from the county clerk's office. "And it'll allow people to vote who wouldn't have had a chance to otherwise."

The project, which Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith brought to the table this past spring, is based on a similar initiative at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, where 10,000 people have been registered in the four years the program has been running. Last year, 170 Henry Ford patients took advantage of the Medical Necessity Ballot as well.

The senator said she hopes to see the program enacted at Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti and other hospitals statewide. In the future, Smith said she sees no reason that it couldn't expand nationwide and help people throughout the United States.

There are a lot of people here on any given day," hospital Executive Director Larry Warren said. "It's a lot of votes."