munity-centered programs for the mentally ill and mentally retarded, combining private initiative with public efforts. We have made considerable progress toward having the mentally ill and retarded treated close to home rather than in large, distant State hospitals. We are convinced this is the best approach, both in terms of effective treatment and economic efficiency. However, to provide the intensity of treatment at a local level necessary for a significant breakthrough, local and State governments need matching financial assistance from the Federal Government. Passage of H.R. 3688 and H.R. 3689 will be a great step forward in helping the mentally ill and retarded. My earnest request is for unanimous committee approval. Sincerely, EDMUND G. BROWN, Governor. Hon. KENNETH ROBERTS, SPRINGFIELD, ILL., March 26, 1963. Chairman, House Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety, House of Representatives, Room 1334, New House Office Building, Washington, D.O.: House bills 3688 and 3689 which embody the President's recent recommendations in the area of mental health meet with my hearty approval. A similar program of community mental health centers has recently been inaugurated here in Illinois. Our program is formulated to serve our citizens with the most advanced facilities and therapy in the Nation. In our opinion, a gigantic step forward in the care of the mentally handicapped has been undertaken in the initiation of this program on a nationwide basis. It is generally accepted that the recruit ment of adequate personnel is one of the major problems. Assistance toward staffing these mental health centers is provided in title II. In the area of mental retardation, lack of scientific knowledge has only re cently been recognized. In order to make necessary progress in this area, a broad research program to indicate directions where progress can be made must be developed. Through H.R. 3689, great help to the States in undertaking this research will be provided. Too frequently, a shameful and degrading treatment is accorded the mentally retarded in crowded institutions. Title II of 3689 will provide assistance to the States for construction of facilities for the most overlooked group of needy citizens. For the above reasons, we in Illinois strongly urge support and passage of this vital legislation. OTTO KERNER, Governor of Illinois. SPRINGFIELD, ILL., Hon. OREN HARRIS, U.S. Representative, Representative Building, Washington, D.C.: I would like to express myself as being in favor of House bills 3688 and 3689 which are designed to help carry out the President's recent recommendations in the area of mental health. Here in Illinois, we have already begun a similar program of community mental health centers. Such a program is designed to service our citizens with the most advanced facilities and therapy in the country. We in Illinois feel that this program on a national basis will be a gigantic step forward in the care of our mentally incapacitated. As we all know, one of the major problems is to secure adequate personnel. The provisions of title II would provide assistance toward staffing these mental health centers. Lack of scientific knowledge in the area of mental retardation is one which only recently has been brought to the fore. If we are going to make the necessary progress in this area, we must first have a broad research program to point to directions where progress can be made. H.R. 3689 would provide great help to the States in undertaking this research. Crowding in the institutions for mentally retarded is a most shameful and degrading treatment. Title II of 3689 would aid the States in constructing facilities for the most overlooked group of needy citizens. For these reasons, we in Illinois strongly urge support and passage of these vital measures. OTTO KERNER, Governor of Illinois. LITTLE ROCK, ARK., March 26, 1963. Congressman KENNETH ROBERTS, Public Health and Safety Committee, Please be advised that I approve of H.R. 3688 and H.R. 3689, and state that Arkansas will make arrangements to participate in the construction program provided in these measures, should same be approved by the Congress. Hon. KENNETH ROBERTS, ORVAL E. FAUBUS, RALEIGH, N.C., March 26, 1963. Member of Congress, Chairman, House Subcommittee, Public Health and Safety, Room 1334, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C.: I urge the passage of the Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963 and the Mental Retardation Facilities and Construction Act of 1963 which are before Congress. These bills represent needed Federal efforts to encourage, initiate, and expand local efforts directed toward finding remedies for mental retardation and other mental illnesses. I am happy to support both of these measures. Hon. KENNETH ROBERTS, TERRY SANFORD, Governor of North Carolina. DES MOINES, Iowa. Member of Congress, Chairman, House Subcommittee, Public Health and Safety, Room 1334, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C.: I wish to express my full support of President Kennedy's legislative proposal on facilities for the mentally ill and retarded as expressed in H.R. 3688 and H.R. 3689. HAROLD E. HUGHES, Hon. KENNETH ROBERTS, HARRISBURG, PA., March 26,1963. Chairman, House Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety, The proposal for development of community mental health centers has our hearty endorsement. The Office of Mental Health of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has been programing for the past several years toward the development of resources within the community for a continuum of care necessary in the treatment of mental illness. We would like to encourage the development of more community resources for the mentally retarded as well as greater efforts in the field of prevention, but we see little hope of moving as rapidly as necessary through this transitional period from a State hospital-centered program to a community-centered program without financial help. The knowledge and skills are at hand; citizen interest and support are at their highest; and all that is needed is the means to mobilize these skills and this support to productive activity. There is a real danger of much of the existing momentum being lost by failure to act boldly and decisively. Your effort toward favorable action in support of the development of community mental health centers is strongly urged so that fight against mental illness can move forward with new vigor. WILLIAM W. SCRANTON, Hon. KENNETH ROBERTS, Member of Congress, TRENTON, N.J., March 26, 1963. Chairman, House Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety, As Governor of New Jersey, I strongly support passage of H.R. 3688 and H.R. 3689 which would implement significant parts of President Kennedy's program on mental health and mental retardation. The New Jersey Legislature is currently considering proposals for amendment and recodification of statutes pertaining to the mentally ill and mentally retarded which are oriented in the direction of the President's proposals. Passage of these bills would give impetus to new programs and planning already well underway in New Jersey as a result of the combined leadership of physicians and other mental health professionals, organized citizen groups, and legislative and executive officials, in our State, county, and local governments. RICHARD J. HUGHES, STATE OF DELAWARE, Dover, Del., March 25, 1963. Hon. KENNETH ROBERTS, Member of Congress, Chairman, House Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety, Room 1334, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN ROBERTS: As Governor of Delaware I wish to express on behalf of the people of our State my firm support of H.R. 3688 and H.R. 3689 which would implement the President's programs on mental health and mental retardation. The Governors of the United States have made many studies in the field of mental health and have solidly backed programs which should insure a breakthrough in this area and a reduction of those in mental institutions of 50 percent during the next 10 years. In order to accomplish this tremendous progress it will be necessary to triple our expenditures in the areas of patient treatment, providing small-size institutions at the community level, and stepping up the training of psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychiatrist helpers. Presently there is an acute shortage of this personnel, and this is one of the main reasons why we are not making greater progress today. In view of the fact that there are millions unemployed, one of the encouraging aspects of the President's program is to provide funds for increasing the number of people who are being trained to do this work. I know that the Congress, when they realize that as many as 30 percent of our population may have some mental affliction, will appreciate the tremendous importance of this great problem. I know that when they realize that with sufficient funds we can cut the populations of our mental institutions in half in the next 10 years, they will take steps to see that President Kennedy's program will be a major contribution in this effort. For these reasons I strongly urge the prompt enactment of this important legislation. Cordially yours, Hon. KENNETH ROBERTS, ELBERT N. CARVEL, ATLANTA, GA., March 27, 1963. Member of Congress, Chairman, House Subcommittee, Public Health and Safety, Room 1334, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C.: Urge your influence to assure favorable consideration of H.R. 3688 and H.R. 3689 relating to Federal assistance in construction and operation of mental health centers and construction of research centers and facilities for the mentally retarded. CARL E. SANDERS, MARCH 27, 1963. Hon. KENNETH ROBERTS, Chairman, House Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety, House of Representatives, Room 1334, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C.: Virgin Islands sorely in need of additional facilities to accommodate and provide for mentally ill and mentally retarded. I strongly urge and recommend favorable consideration by your committee of H.R. 3688 and 3689 aid to Virgin Islands under mental health and mental retardation programs vital to insure construction of mental wings of proposed hospitals in Virgin Islands. If necessary members of our mental health staff will be available to further justify this request. RALPH M. PAIEWONSKY, Governor. JEFFERSON CITY, MO., Hon. KENNETH ROBERTS, Member of Congress, Chairman, House Subcommittee, House bills 3688 and 3689 have my strong support. They are in line with our plans to improve Missouri's program for mentally ill and mentally retarded. Missouri has found small centers for the rapid treatment of mentally ill to be humane and economically sound. I have endorsed program now before our State legislature to create three mental health centers in next biennium. JOHN M. DALTON, Governor, State of Missouri. HARTFORD, CONN., March 20, 1963. Congressman KENNETH ROBERTS, Two measures now before your honorable committee, H.R. 3688 and H.R. 3689, will, if adopted, make possible great new achievement in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and retardation. Connecticut's experience in these fields clearly demonstrates the soundness of the approach recommended in both these bills. May I respectfully urge upon your distinguished committee favorable consideration of H.R. 3688 and H.R. 3689. Hon. KENNETH ROBERTS, Public Health and Safety, New House Office Building, JOHN DEMPSEY, Governor of Connecticut. INDIANAPOLIS, IND., The day of the ever-expanding central State institution for the care of the retarded or the mentally ill is behind us. We have increasingly come to recognize that both for the patients and for the taxpayers, smaller centers close to the homes of patients are more effective and, in the long run, less costly. Our experience in Indiana with 11 State institutions now caring for approximately 25,000 patients a year, has convinced us that the President's proposal for community centers for the mentally ill and the retarded is both the most economical and the best medical method for meeting our responsibilities to those among us who suffer these disabilities. I give my wholehearted support to the President's courageous and farseeing proposals as contained in H.R. 3688 and H.R. 3689. MATTHEW E. WELSH, OLYMPIA, WASH, April 9, 1963. Congressman KENNETH ROBERTS, Public Health and Safety Committee, Washington, D.C.: Would like to add my personal appeal for your support of House bills 3688 and 3689 regarding Federal aid to further State mental health programs and research in field of retarded. Critical need exists to increase funds in these areas toward improved research, training, and treatment programs. Legislature, State of Washington, unable to appropriate additional moneys to take care of all requests of our State mental hospitals and institutions for retarded. Believe Federal aid to State mental hospitals and institutions of retarded necessary and urgent at this time. Urge your personal support and consideration. KENNETH ROBERTS, ALBERT D. ROSELLINI, BISMARCK, N. DAK., Chairman, House Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety, Room 1334, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C.: H.R. 3688 and 3689 embodying the principles of the President's recent message on mental illness and mental retardation are of major importance to North Dakota to supplement our programs of treatment and rehabilitation. Because of the effort now being devoted to this field in our State and the encouraging results apparent to date, H.R. 3688 and H.R. 3689 have my unqualified support. WILLIAM L. GUY, Governor. COLUMBIA, S.C., March 6, 1963. Hon. KENNETH ROBERTS, Chairman, Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety, Would like to recommend favorable action on Senate bills 755-756, House bills 3688-3689. Hon. KENNETH ROBERTS, DONALD S. RUSSELL, Governor of South Carolina. STATE OF HAWAII, EXECUTIVE CHAMBERS, Honolulu, Hawaii, April 2, 1963. Chairman, Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety, DEAR We have been apprised of the introduction of H.R. 3688, a bill to provide assistance in the construction and initial operation of community mental health centers, and would appreciate your support of this bill. With warm personal regards. May the Almighty be with you and yours always. Sincerely, JOHN A. BURNS, Governor. STATE OF HAWAII, Honolulu, March 21, 1963. Hon. SPARK M. MATSUNAGA, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR SPARK: I am writing to request your support of H.R. 3689 (S. 756), Mental Retardation Facilities Construction Act of 1963, and H.R. 3386, Maternal and Child Health and Mental Retardation Planning Amendments of 1963. These carry out the proposals contained in the report of the President's Panel on Mental Retardation. |