Clipboard : Care for the Mentally Ill

Orange County’s Alliance for the Mentally Ill estimates that about 5% of the county population is seriously mentally ill. If that figure is correct, it means there are around 120,000 such cases. the county has beds for little more than 2,000 of the mentally ill--defined as those suffering from major depressive orders, melanchlia, depressive neurosis and bipolar (manic depressive) disorders. The balance have some other sort of living arrangement or are on the street.

County accommodations, not all of which are physically within the boundaries of the county, are licensed by the state. Here’s where they are: Local acute psyuchiatric beds*: 700 Beds in board and care facilities (99% occupancy): 650 Beds in loced skilled nursing facilities: 165 Beds allocated in state hospitals**: 148 Beds available in the Institute for Mental Disease***: 144 Beds in skilled nursing facilities: 125 Beds in shelters: 85 * Of these, 368 are contracted outside the county. ** None of these are in the county. *** There are 10 locations in Southern California; none in the county. Source: Eldon G. Baber, Alliance for the Mentally Ill in Orange County