The Crowd -- B.W. Cook

B.W. Cook

It is easy to write about the many charitable concerns in the

Newport-Mesa community. Some of them are devoted to helping less

fortunate children. Others raise funds and awareness to support culture.

Still others feed the homeless, support the hospital and fund programs

for the local school system. It is easy to get behind these causes. How

do you feel about mental illness? How do you feel about raising money to

fund programs for people who have lost the ability to function in

society? How do you feel about facing the issue of mental illness, and

perhaps confronting the effects of the disease in your own community, on

your own block and perhaps even in your own home?

In the last decade, myriad issues relating to mental illness have come

out of the closet and into mainstream social discourse. What was once

taboo is now handled openly. Champions of helping those suffering from

mental illness, including former First Lady Rosyln Carter, have made an

enormous difference in opening doors that have been closed for not years,

but centuries.

In a way, mental illness is a last frontier of sorts with regards to

rallying community support for everything from research to housing to

medical support and to psychological-social services for victims and

their loved ones.

We do not need to look at the national model of support, encouraged by

Carter and others in the limelight, to find hope. Recently, the John

Henry Foundation, with the mission of “creating accessible, responsible,

integrated care for mentally ill adults,” held a fund-raiser at John and

Donna Crean’s Back Bay estate.

The upbeat dinner party was chaired by Nica Sheward and co-chaired by

Linda Palitz. Additional support for the evening came from the silent

auction chairwoman, Kathleen Nolan, and co-chairwoman, Rebecca Webb.

Organizers rallied support from 225 Newport-Mesa guests converging upon

the Crean estate to celebrate progress made in recent times to help the

mentally ill in Orange County.

The John Henry Foundation was founded in 1989 with the philosophy of

“treating every person affected with chronic mental illness with equal

access to health care, housing, employment and every other social

opportunity available to the free citizens of this country without the

stigma of discrimination.”

It’s a tall order. Mental illness, with so many forms and expressions

of tragedy, is perhaps the most frustrating and horrific of human

conditions. It may be even more destructive to the lives of loved ones

than the actual victim. The John Henry Foundation has developed a model

of care to help people with schizophrenia, bipolar disease,

schizo-affective disease and depression.

The care includes psychiatric medical treatment, permanent affordable

housing, job training and employment, educational services in conjunction

with Santa Ana College, family treatment programs, counseling and support

groups, social and recreational opportunities, and lastly, jail retrieval

and prevention programs. Statistics are unclear; however, it is

documented that a portion of the homeless adult population on our streets

are afflicted with mental illness and have no specific avenue of

assistance.

A number of local residents have stepped up and made their support

known. The evening at the Crean home honored Marilyn Brewer, Omer and Lou

Ellen Long, Albert Kozischek, and Terry and Nica Sheward. A long list of

generous local merchants provided a spectacular display of merchandise

for a silent auction that took place in the main salon of the Crean home.

More than $60,000 was raised from the auction and the dinner proceeds.

Also supporting the foundation were Rick Massimino, Marilyn and Glenn

Salsbury, Peggy Lucas, Mary Robison, Scott Robison and celebrity Bill

Cosby. The local board of the foundation includes Marian Bergeson, Hugh

Coble, Don Crevier, Jack Wareham and Marilyn Brewer.

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.