The Commonwealth needs a psychiatrist or two that will always be on island, according to the Mental Health Planning Council.<\/p>\n
MHPC noted the lack of on-island psychiatrist that could better serve the residents of the islands.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve noticed, as community members, a lack of mental health and substance abuse services, primarily mental health, especially when it comes to the prison setting,\u201d council secretary Gregory Borja said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now we\u2019re limited to one psychiatrist who comes on island once a week,\u201d he added, noting that 12 years ago, there were two psychiatrists in the CNMI.<\/p>\n
Borja said one doctor who comes in once a week from Guam may not be enough to help everyone that needs assistance with those who are living in the hospital as residents as well as the \u201clarge population\u201d of outpatients or people that receive mental health services but are out in the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes she hasn\u2019t got a chance to meet with everybody,\u201d Borja said.<\/p>\n
Borja said there is also limited service when it comes to mental health and that \u201cother than medication, there is really not much that is going on\u201d and that services such as therapy and counseling should be made more available.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public needs somebody out here, to have somebody help somebody in that moment you need it. You come in, there\u2019s nobody there, what would you do?\u201d echoed council Brett M. Halstead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need those services also to reach out also to Tinian and Rota as well,\u201d Borja said.<\/p>\n
The council said they are trying to get technical assistance on how to get doctors on island.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re more like an advisory and review group. We\u2019re not a governing body so what we can do is just express our concerns with our Legislature, to the board at [the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.],\u201d Borja said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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