Bob Staples of Jay is a former chairman of the Regional School Unit 73 board. In September 2024, following the death of his son Brett, who struggled with schizoaffective disorder, he established the Brett M. Staples Brain Disorder Awareness Coalition.<\/p>\n
Maine\u2019s brain health care system is broken \u2014 and our leaders know it. For years, families have
begged for help, professionals have warned about shortages and tragedies have piled up. Yet
little changes. <\/p>\n
People with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other brain disorders are left untreated until crisis, with predictable and devastating results: suicides, preventable violence and families torn apart. This is not an accident. It is the direct result of political inaction.<\/p>\n
The reality is grim. Maine has one of the lowest numbers of psychiatrists and neurologists per capita. In rural counties, waiting months for an appointment is the norm. Families in crisis are
told to \u201chang on\u201d while their loved ones deteriorate. <\/p>\n
With no real options, too many end up in emergency rooms or jail cells. That is not treatment \u2014 it\u2019s abandonment dressed up as health care policy.<\/p>\n
The consequences are everywhere. Parents watch helplessly as their children cycle between hospitals, jails and the streets. Families lose loved ones to suicide. Law enforcement officers are forced into impossible roles, dealing with medical crises they are not trained for.<\/p>\n
And when illness is left untreated long enough, it doesn\u2019t just destroy the individual. Sometimes it erupts into violence that harms others \u2014 tragedies that devastate both victims\u2019 families and the family of the person who never got the care they needed. Every one of these outcomes is preventable.<\/p>\n
The price of inaction isn\u2019t just measured in grief. It\u2019s also draining Maine\u2019s economy. Emergency hospitalizations, law enforcement interventions and disability claims cost far more than early treatment and prevention ever would.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the state loses out on the productivity of people who could be working, studying and contributing if they simply had access to care.<\/p>\n
We are paying more for a system that delivers less \u2014 and costing people their lives in the
process. And here\u2019s the most infuriating part: we already know what works. Maine has tools like the Progressive Treatment Program (PTP), designed to make sure people get care before crisis.<\/p>\n
But it sits underused and inconsistently applied. We know we need more inpatient beds, step-
down housing and telehealth expansion \u2014 yet investments are slow and half-hearted. We know we must grow our workforce of psychiatrists and neurologists, especially in rural areas \u2014
but Maine has failed to create the incentives that would bring them here. <\/p>\n
These are not mysteries. They are failures of leadership. The path forward is clear: Expand access by incentivizing specialists to practice in rural Maine and strengthening telehealth. Build infrastructure with more inpatient facilities and step-down treatment programs.<\/p>\n
Enforce existing laws like the Progressive Treatment Program to intervene before crisis. Support families, who are left carrying the burden of a system that refuses to act.<\/p>\n
Every day we delay, more Mainers die preventable deaths. More families are shattered. More
communities are left unsafe because treatment was withheld until it was too late. The tragedies
unfolding around us are not random \u2014 they are the predictable outcome of political neglect.<\/p>\n
And let\u2019s be clear: this is not just Maine\u2019s problem. States across the country are facing the
same shortages, the same broken systems, the same preventable tragedies. Maine is not an
outlier \u2014 it is a warning. <\/p>\n
If our leaders here refuse to act, then federal policymakers must step in. Brain health is health, and it\u2019s time it is treated that way.<\/p>\n
The choice in front of Maine\u2019s leaders is simple: continue tolerating preventable deaths and
violence or finally build a system where care comes before crisis. Families and communities
cannot afford more excuses. We need action \u2014 now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bob Staples of Jay is a former chairman of the Regional School Unit 73 board. In September 2024,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-209322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}