Father of mentally ill man gets his son to the hospital

By Lora Pabst

I wrote last week about Jerry Rogers' struggle to get his mentally ill son Scott Rogers to accept medical treatment after a doctor warned he could die of internal bleeding. When the story appeared in the paper Thursday morning, Jerry still didn't know what he was going to do. But that day Scott was admitted to Hennepin County Medical Center because of the pain from his dislocated shoulder, and has been under a 72-hour hold to keep him there for treatment.

Jerry Rogers said he isn't sure what the future holds for his son. He wants to make sure that the authorities in Scott's life work together to avoid a crisis like this one.

Sue Abderholden, executive director of National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota, hears about plenty of situations like this. Agencies need to do a better job of connecting concerned callers with the proper resources during a mental health crisis, she said. The NAMI Minnesota website includes a page dedicated to mental health crisis services.

The state House Civil Justice Committee is holding a hearing on Wednesday to discuss mental illness and the criminal justice system. One of the topics will be mental health crisis responses by health professionals and law enforcement. The hearing will be held at the State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. Room 200, St. Paul, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. For more information, see NAMI's website.