Knoxville News Sentinel Incarceration of mentally ill focus of talk
Kristi L. Nelson
...Leslie El-Sayad, president of NAMI Tennessee said: the "craziest" thing is "that law enforcement is considered a modality of treatment for a disease" when the disease is mental illness.
"Is law enforcement considered a modality of treatment for heart disease, or cancer?" she asked.
A diabetic who is acting erratically and is taken to a hospital after accidentally taking too much insulin, for example, is "off to treatment the minute they identify they have a disease. But our people aren't. Our people are sitting, waiting, not sure they're ever going to get treatment. And when they do, it's the most Band-Aid of treatments."
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