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For most Vermonters, Tropical Storm Irene was a disaster that tore roads, communities and lives apart. But for many of the state's neediest mental health patients, it was a blessing in disguise. The small state had struggled for years with its mental health system. ... Most of the state office complex in Waterbury, of which the hospital was a part, had to be abandoned and temporary work spaces found for the employees. The $130 million repair to the complex was the largest state construction project in history. Patients who had been at the state hospital were moved to temporary locations while state officials and the Legislature looked for permanent fixes to the state's mental health system. The original state hospital was demolished. (Ring, 8/27)

Kristen Whitney is service coordinator for the Cooperative Agreements to Benefit Homeless Individuals grant at Wyandot Center in Kansas City. She said Wyandot Center employees can reach out to people who are homeless, encourage them to accept treatment and emergency shelter, assist them with applying for benefits, help them locate a permanent apartment and meet with them weekly to smooth issues that may arise.  But that still isn’t enough to meet everyone’s needs, she said. Some clients require daily check-ins, particularly if they have lived on the street for years and aren’t accustomed to caring for an apartment, Whitney said, while others need someone to bring them groceries or teach them how to use the bus system. In Kansas, Medicaid doesn’t cover those kinds of supports, she said. (Hart, 8/26)

Doctors, psychologists, counselors, social workers and others connected to the mental-health system are working to reduce suicide rates that continue to rise nationwide and in Ohio. The nation’s largest suicide-prevention organization has set a goal to reduce the annual suicide rate by 20 percent over the next 10 years. But it’s volunteers such as [Steve] LeVert who are on the front lines of a crisis that has taken 20,000 people in Ohio since 2000. Those volunteers often are the difference between people receiving the help they need or sliding back into despair. (Wagner, 8/29)