PhotObama-- New Orleans Town Hall-- taken by State Rep. Abramson

By GottaLaff

Photo taken by State Representative Neil Abramson (D), New Orleans, from the stage.
Ba-Ba-Ba-Bobby Jindal mangaged to get into the shot.

Last night, Rep. Abramson sent me an e-mail and allowed me to interview him, giving me statements he said he'd given to nobody else about Bobby Jindal's playing politics with NOAH, the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital.

People are committing suicide, but that's just not a good enough reason to keep the facility open to, you know, save their lives. Here are a couple of excerpts from that post (please read the rest here):

We have a severe mental health crisis in New Orleans. We have a growing number of people with mental health needs while our mental health services are significantly lower since Katrina. The closure of the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital (NOAH), the only state run mental health facility in the New Orleans area, only exacerbates that problem.

In the legislature, we funded NOAH to keep it open. Governor Jindal "line-item" vetoed that appropriation. Instead, his plan is to send all mental health patients 60 miles away [...]

What is sometimes lost in the discussion is that NOAH services low-income, medicaid patients, and it was established to treat adolescents, although adults were treated or evaluated there after Katrina because of lack of other facilities. These kids need to be close to their families, and the entire families need to be part of the counseling in order for the treatment to be productive. Most of these kids and families do not have the ability or the means to travel to 60 miles, across a long bridge.

Today, Rep. Abramson attended President Obama's New Orleans town hall meeting, and sent me a photo that he took. I am so happy to have made new friends in New Orleans!