Psychiatr News September 1, 2006
Volume 41, Number 17, page 4
© 2006 American Psychiatric Association
Senator Honored for MH Efforts
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Rich Daly
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Nicholas Meyers, director of APA's Department of Government
Relations (left), and APA Medical Director James H. Scully Jr., M.D.
(right) present Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) with APA's Jacob K. Javits
Public Service Award in his Capitol Hill office on July 27.
The annual award from APA's Committee on Government Relations is the
Association's highest recognition of a public official who has made a
significant contribution to improving the lot of those who are mentally
ill.
Smith was recognized for his efforts as chair of the Special Committee on
Aging, where he has held hearings on the new Medicare Part D drug benefit in
which he focused on ensuring that people with mental illness would have
continued access to their medications.
In the last Congress, Smith led efforts to pass legislation, the Garret Lee
Smith Act, to establish a new youth suicide prevention and early intervention
initiative. The initiative provides over $31 million in grants that support
screening, assessment, and early intervention programs in school systems,
institutions of higher learning, juvenile justice systems, foster care
programs, and youth support organizations. The legislation was named after
Smith's son, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and eventually committed
suicide.
APA established the Javits award in 1986 to honor the legacy of a U.S.
senator from New York who achieved multiple successes on behalf of the
mentally ill and on substance abuse issues. Past recipients include New York
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (D), Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), and Sen. Paul
Wellstone (D-Minn.).
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