From The Orange County Register – OPINION
Orange County Register Editorial
The second meaning is deeper and more important. It is the duty for individuals to care for and form families, to make and keep friendships, to be industrious and law-abiding and, in short, do all of those things that we know lead to a good and successful society.
In this, the people govern without government; they are self-governing.
To do this well requires a social and reasonable – a mentally healthy – people. And yet achieving this health is something millions in this country struggle with every day.
Of these, especially vulnerable are young people, those whose minds and character are still forming and growing – and who sometimes struggle with mental illnesses that we, as a society, are only recently coming to understand.
Still, even limited knowledge can be put to beneficial use.
And so we commend the initiative, announced today, from the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, that will devote additional resources to this population in need.
CHOC’s plan would open 18 new inpatient psychiatric beds for youth under age 12 – a group that currently has no beds available in the county.
That service, priced at $11 million, will be supplemented by intensive, one-day outpatient services as well as regular meeting regimens for young people living with mental illness.
To cover these programs, CHOC plans to establish a $16 million endowment. CHOC estimates the cost of a full pediatric mental care system to be around $50 million.
A self-governing people is a social people, looking after one another and working together. A crucial part of that is looking out for the most vulnerable. For those who are capable, providing CHOC assistance in this new effort is a most estimable thing.
