To the editor:

Read the obituaries? It’s now fashionable not to list the cause of death. This effectively silences all lessons to be learned in an effort to spare any embarrassment to the survivors should something negative like suicide be involved. And don’t think suicide isn’t happening, and often. And, for every poor soul that “succeeds” in taking their life, there are multiple that “fail.” And the silence continues.

Two years since we started our CHIP task force; it’s so quiet, I fear the pilot light that keeps the heat on the subject of Lawrence Memorial Hospital has blown out. Quiet, in spite of the sounds of the $50 million new construction project.

With the exception of the “crisis unit,” carved out of closet space, which I hailed as better than nothing, LMH has stayed on track and offered our community precious little in the realm of mental health. Body or mind will be served, but not both.

LMH is getting better for those who retain the ability to choose help. Not so for all others. We are now one step closer to having a “designer” hospital, instead of a community hospital.

Think our troops returning from multiple tours of duty won’t need help adjusting back into our community? Not a problem. We’ll just quietly ship them off again to somewhere else.

Alan P. Miller,

Baldwin City