The mainstream and social media carried a story on the weekend covering the latest OECD report showing this country has (once again) the highest rate of youth suicide in the world.
Two weeks ago a seriously mentally ill Otorohanga man killed his mother and two others, and badly injured his father – only days after his mother had requested help from Waikato DHB’s mental health services for fear of the harm her son might cause others (the request was obviously unsuccessful).
Three weeks ago, a mental health ward at Waitakere Hospital was closed due to significant staffing shortages.
Last month, a record number of ‘official’ suicides – 564 – for the most recent financial year was notified (a figure that does not include any ‘suspected’ suicides like our son’s, whose inquest has not yet been held).
In the wake of a 10-year litany of mental health horror stories, this month three DHB members, three political parties and half a million New Zealanders called for a full-scale, independent enquiry into the state of mental health care in this country.
In response, Government Minister of Health Jonathan Coleman repeated his weekly mantra: ‘there will be no enquiry…the Government is doing a fine job on mental health…we threw another $5mill at it last budget…pass me another bunch of grapes…’
Like Nero fiddling as Rome burnt, Coleman and his cronies refuse to let the problems of the outside world impinge on their enjoyment of the trappings & baubles of office.
Mental health and suicide issues don’t usually draw the sexy headline-grabbing attention of, say, Auckland house price rises or Prime Ministerial ponytail-pulling escapades, but the cumulative effect of years of the worst mental health horror stories appearing in the mainstream media and being widely spread through social media has pushed parliamentary opposition parties to join the call for change, and I predict will lead to some sort of half-baked, in-house enquiry being offered by Key and Coleman to appease the masses, within the next few months – to head off any chance of this becoming a 2017 election issue.
The trick for those in the community who see that only real and substantial change will work, will be to resist being bought off by cosmetic measures and to press on.
What shape and colour these changes, and the change process, could take will be the subject of further discussion.
Dave Macpherson is The Daily Blog’s mental health blogger and the Waikato DHB member-elect
I am surprised TDB has not been shut down by the government. Factual analysis and expression of counter opinions are not normally permitted in fascist police states.
Suggestive of German roots here with Coleman./Fascism?
Get a DNA on Jonathan Coleman esquire eh?
http://www.selectsurnames2.com/coleman.html
Select Coleman Surname Genealogy
The surname Coleman has two distinctly different derivations, one English and the other Irish:
In England, the surnames Coleman, as well as Collier, is occupational, describing either a burner of charcoal or a gatherer of coal (col was Old English for coal or charcoal).
The German surname Kohlmann has the same roots. A spelling variant Colman crops up in East Anglia. In Ireland, Coleman is an anglicized name from the Gaelic Clumhain or Colman
http://www.colemandna.com/
Surname DNA testing is the newest tool available to genealogists. These tests help genealogists verify their paternal ancestry (father’s father) in a quick and easy way. It saves time, prevents mistakes, and provides invaluable data that can be obtained in no other way.
The Coleman DNA Project is open to all males with the name Coleman or a variation. (Coleman, Colman, Coulman, Calman, Colmann, Kohlman, Koleman, Kolman, Kolmann, Kuhlman, Kulman, Killman, etc….) Also any man believing he is a direct male descendant of one of these names.
This Family Project is started to:1. Help researchers on common or related families work together to find their common heritage (See the Patriarch Page)2. Identify the DNA of the ancestor families and compile them and their lost branches into distinct genetic lineages through DNA matches.
Fascism indeed!!!
So Key and his clan are slowly killing us all with their NAZI style of genocide I am afraid as the Nazis did to the weak, disabled and old folks that were a drain on the Government finances during the 1930’s.
This is Key In’c master final solution plans we are sure.
Jonathan Coleman needs a proverbial kick up the backside he hasn’t been doing his job he is bloody useless. How many inquiries do we need to have about the Henry Bennett Mental facility and how many more have to die before our government gets of their butts and actually does something. So much for better more efficient and effective health services we were promised by our lying, crooked and uncaring government.
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