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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2002)
May o i, 2002________________________________________ ÖClji* ^ l o r t l a n b © b s e r u e r _____________________________________________ Pag«? as Agency Mergers Helps Mental Health Clients campus o f Concordia University in northeast Portland. Grant is a mental patient and Concordia student who is recovering from herdisability. photo by M ark W ashington /T he P orti ani ) O bserver B y S ean P. N elson T he P ortland O bserver A merger o f three Multnomah County agencies serving mental health is meant to help people like Lindsey Grant o f northeast Port land. Grant, 47, was diagnosed with depression, then manic depres- sion or bipolar disorder in 1996. Despite difficulties arising from her disorder, she will graduate from C oncordia U niversity in n o r th e a s t P o r tla n d w ith a Bachelor’s Degree in social work next December. Grant praises portrayals of people with mental illness such as that of the schizophrenic math ematical genius (Russell Crowe) in the film, "A Beautifiul Mind,'' which won the Academy Award for Best Picture this year. “A Beautiful Mind" was a good film because it showed that there are people with mental illnesses that are actually high functioning. They are not just people drooling in their shoe,” Grant said. Married to an abusive alco holic for a number of years. Grant often dealt with his problems other than her own. After she was diag nosed with depression, doctors initially put her on an antidepres sant called Zoloft. Doctors discovered this was the wrong medication when Grant drove her car to Los Angeles in 16 hours during a manic episode and was hospitalized for suicidal ide ation, visualizing her own suicide. O ther manic behaviors in cluded painting her house by hand in two weeks, alphabetizing her videotapes and racing thoughts, or flight o f ideas, Grant said. “There were other things, like how generous I was being with my money. 1 put the house up for sale at a bad time. That was kind of strange. I did bizarre things and justified them to other people,” Grant recalled. She decided to return to school, where she got grant money be cause she wrote good essays. As part of her degree requirements, she studied at the Unity New Mezzanine Center in Southwest Portland. The center serves meals, pro- vides a milieu for visiting and of fers a safe env ironment for mental health clients to get out of the house because they think they are alone. They are not. “Many people think mental patients are just the people that the police shoot because they go crazy, but they actually can be productive individuals in society,” Grant said. The new mental health merger will add new program s, includ ing walk-in clinics at Southw est 12lh and Stark, dow ntow n; in G resham at Southeast 43rd and D iv isio n ; and on N o rth e a st M artin L uther King Jr. B oule vard, betw een F rem o n t and Skidm ore. The last is run by T u a la tin V a lle y Centers. A PROGRAM OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN HEALTH COALITION 2800 N. Vancouver Avenue, Suite 100, 97227; 503 413-1850 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and made possible Sponsored by the in part by Legacy Emanuel, PSU-RRI and CareOregon. WHAT? k c m CH stands Racial for and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health. It is a community action plan to decrease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the Oregon African American community. WHY? an African American is twice as likely to die from a in Oregon stroke and one and one-half times as likely to die from a heart attack. African Americans have a Of premature death, Achievements Celebrated diabetes, stroke, heart attack and high blood pressure. Peninsula Little Leaguers Shay Washington (from left), Celeste Tillman, Sedrice Millage and Adore Butcher meet Miss America Katie Harmon (center) Monday at the Nike Factory Store on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Nike presented grants o f up to $5,000 each to 11 community-based organizations that serve north and northeast Portland, including Peninsula Little League, CASA for Children, For Us Northwest, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization/Asian Family Center, Open Meadow Alternative Schools, Peninsula Children's Center, Portland Council PTA Clothing Center, Rebuilding Together with Christmas in April, Rose City Soccer Club, Schoolhouse Supplies and Youth Opportunity Center. photo by higher incidence STAY TUNED... M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver For more information programs such as HOLLA (youth peer education) and Lookin' Tight Livin' Right (beauty and barber shop based education) to decrease the disparity of preventable chronic diseases. Home Compost Bin Sale Get those grass clippings, leaves and kitchen scraps out of the trash. Turn them into rich compost with the Earth Machine. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 11 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 12 North Portland Portland Community College - Cascade Campus West Portland Portland Community College - Sylvania Campus 705 N. Killingsworth 12000 SW 49th Ave. From I-S: Interstate/Portland Blvd. exit (exit 304), turn east onto Portland Bh'd., turn right on Albina, follow signs From I S South: Capitol Hwy. exit, turn right, go through five signals to college From I S North: Haines exit, turn right at stop sign, turn left at four-way stop, follow signs East Portland Tri-Met Gateway Park & Ride Sponsored by Metro and your local governments. Northeast Pacific and 99th Front 1-205 or 1-84: Glisan/Stark St. exit or Halsey/Gateway exit, follow signs Questions? Call (503) 234-3000 or visit www.m etro-region.org f I Bins also sold at Warn Industries, M t. Hood Community College, Tigard High School and Epson Portland, Inc. on M ay 11 only. M ETRO PEOPLE PLACES O P E N SPACES
