I got an earful - the PACT program and the vanished waiting list

Last night I joined a mental health support group at the Christ the King Families Church and I got an earful. One of the items I heard a lot about was the PACT program, the Program of Assertive Community Treatment. It is a mental health program which provides treatment, support and rehabilitative services to people with severe and persistent mentally illness. This model was originally developed in Wisconsin and has proved extraordinarily effective. Before starting in this program, patients were averaging 78 days in hospital a year. After being in this program, they were doing so much better they were needing only (on average) 9 hospital days a year. Manitoba has one PACT team. But based on the situation in Ontario which has about 60 PACT teams, we concluded earlier this year that Manitoba should have 4-6 PACT teams (see Liberal minority report on Healthy Kids at http://www.manitobaliberals.ca Indeed one PACT team in Manitoba proved so inadequate and the waiting list so long - that the waiting list was made to vanish (NDP magic?). This absolutely incensed the folks I met with last night. Many of the people they care about need the PACT program and can't get in. It is clearly time to put in place the 4-6 PACT teams needed for the province of Manitoba and to help those who desperately need this care.