Bills pertaining to education aren’t the only ones being focused on in the Senate, as some relating to health are drawing some attention to.

Senator for District 12 Amy Sinclair says that several years ago, the state moved mental health facilities from being a county funded service to a regional system, with a goal of making sure there were equitable mental health services across the state. She adds that just a few years ago another change was added, moving those services from being funded by property taxes, to being state funded.

Sinclair mentions that new bills coming through the Senate look towards the next step in ramping those services into a statewide system. She explains that no one wants to walk away from local ownership on how the needs of friends and neighbors are met, but that making sure everyone has access to a minimum standard is very important, telling Raccoon Valley Radio why that is.

“You know, additionally, we are looking at funding that goes into Medicaid to deal with dual diagnoses, and so connecting our mental health services, those that are focused on brain health, to substance abuse services, so often those two are connected. We have so many folks who find themselves in situations where they are self medicating with drugs or alcohol. So you have those co-occurring brain health issues with substance abuse issues.”

Sinclair says that being able to have a system that can speak to the needs of individuals suffering from both of those fields is vitally important. She adds that while Iowa has been ranked in the Top Ten nationally for health care, a crucial step to try and put the state in the Number One spot is making sure that mental health care becomes a stronger field.