03.05.10
More Than a Name
It’s more than a name. I’m talking about a building. It has been 20 years now since the Dr. Harold W. Jordan Habilitation Center in my hometown of Nashville was named for my Dad. He is an extremely modest man and is not one to ever brag about this fact. Many people who know him do not even know about the building. In fact, he would be incensed with me if he knew I was writing about what my family calls “his building.” The kind staff there takes it upon themselves to honor my Dad in some way every year. The building was so named after he served the state of Tennessee as its first black Commissioner of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. I bring all of this up because of my concern about a rumor. There is talk these days that due to budget cuts, the building bearing my Dad’s name may soon be no more. I understand budget cuts - I realize every state is having them - but there are some services, to me, that are not optional. The Harold W. Jordan Habilitation Center and Cloverbottom, another mental health facility located next to it which is also rumored to close, together serve more than 300 patients.
Statistics show that mental illnesses are common, about one in four adults over the age of 18 suffer from a mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. A “Global Burden of Disease” study, presented by Harvard University, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization, also shows that mental illness “accounts for over 15 percent of the burden of disease in established market economies, such as the United States… more than the disease burden caused by all cancers.”
We cannot let facilities helping the mentally ill be torn down. The consequences of such a move are too great, and as the statistics show, it is not someone else’s problem. It is all of ours. So please join me in writing, e-mailing, or calling Tennessee State officials including:
Governor Phil Bredesen
Governor’s Office
Tennessee State Capitol
Nashville, TN 37243-0001
Phone: (615)741-2001
Fax: (615)532-9711
Email: Phil.Bredesen@tn.gov
Commissioner Virginia Trotter Betts
Department of Mental Health and Mental Disabilities
Central Office
425 Fifth Avenue North
3rd Floor Cordell Hull Bldg
Nashville, Tennessee 37243-0675
(615) 532-6500
oc.tdmhdd@tn.gov (Office of Communications)
Thank you in advance, friends, and if you see my Dad, don’t tell him I told you!
