To the Editor:

I am disturbed to learn from Norma S. Carey, Executive Director of St. Lawrence County Community Development Program, that Medicaid will no longer pay for transportation services for mental health consumers to attend day programs that are not medical treatments.

SLCCDP currently transports 80 mental health consumers to several different day programs in Ogdensburg which are an essential part of their mental health treatment plan. Day programs, such as Seaway House and Step-by-Step, provide work experience, social interaction with peers, breakfast and lunch, personal counseling, access to computers and a place to go that will be familiar and comfortable for individuals who are recovering from severe mental illness.

CDP has effectively developed a transportation system to give mental health consumers access to these crucial day programs and it deserves funding to continue doing this. These individuals deserve funding to participate in safe outpatient programs. The community deserves this funding because day programs help mental health consumers make the adjustment from living in a world of mental illness to living independently within the community.

Please find funding to maintain the CDP transportation program for mental health consumers to attend day programs. CDP needs $150,000 to continue this through December 2014; then CDP will need $300,000 for 2015.

Such funding will benefit everyone in St. Lawrence County.

Lynne Matott

President of Alliance for the Mentally Ill of St. Lawrence County