Community Psychiatric Clinic & WAMI -- Congressman Jim McDermott Kicks-off Seattle's First...

Health & Lifestyle Editors

SEATTLE--(BW HealthWire)--Sept. 26, 2001

State Congressman Jim McDermott will be on hand Sunday, Sept. 30 at Seward Park to help kick-off Seattle's first ever Move for Mental Health.

The event is a 5k run/walk being held to raise public

awareness about mental illness, provide education, and help promote National Mental Illness Awareness Week, Oct. 7-13. All proceeds from the event will go to fund education, advocacy, support, and treatment for individuals with mental illness and their families.

The run/walk is a partnership between Washington Advocates for the Mentally Ill (NAMI's WAMI) and Community Psychiatric Clinic (CPC). These organizations and many dedicated volunteers came together to create an event which would help raise public awareness and provide education about mental illnesses -- disorders which are often not spoken about but affect an estimated 300,000 people in Washington State at any given time, (State of Washington Division of Mental Health), and more than 54 million Americans in any given year (U.S. Surgeon General's Report, 1999). Mental illnesses are devastating not only to consumers themselves, but also family members, friends, and communities as whole. Through this event we hope to help dispel fear, misunderstanding, and stigma associated with mental illness, as well as reinforce that mental illnesses are treatable. Individuals can go on to live normal, productive lives with medication and treatment.

A psychiatrist by training, Congressman McDermott has been involved in advancing public health policy for more than three decades. As a State legislator, he was an architect of the Washington Basic Health Plan, and as a Member of Congress he strongly advocates a system of universal health care that includes parity for the treatment of mental disorders. "Every American deserves access to affordable quality health care. I applaud the work of everyone involved in the Move for Mental Health to highlight the critical need to provide comprehensive care for people with mental illness," stated Congressman McDermott.

Did you know?

-- Mental illness affects one out of every four families in America. (National
Alliance for the Mentally Ill)

-- Tragic and devastating disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, bipolar
disorder, Alzheimer's