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