HealthDay (3/23, Preidt) reported, “Seniors who are hospitalized for pneumonia are at high risk for long-term physical and mental problems that can impair their ability to care for themselves,” according to a study published online March 15 in the American Journal of Medicine. “The study looked at data on about 1,400 adults older than 50 who survived more than 1,700 hospitalizations for pneumonia, heart attack or stroke.” Notably, “the effects of pneumonia were comparable to those seen in people who survive a heart attack or stroke, the researchers said.”

Related Links:

— “Pneumonia May Lead to Serious Aftereffects for Seniors, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 22, 2013.

Palm Beach (FL) Post (3/24, Isger) reported, “In January, President Barack Obama proposed a goal of reaching 750,000 young people to identify mental illness early. The plan includes $15 million to train teachers and other adults and to detect mental illness and another $40 million to schools and other agencies to connect those families with help, but doesn’t detail how.” The Post added, “School settings would have the broadest reach, said Dr. Paul Appelbaum, past president of the American Psychiatric Association, who participated in the meetings that led to Obama’s proposal.” Dr. Appelbaum explained, “Many kids don’t come in regularly to doctor or primary care physicians sometimes because their families can’t afford it or because they’re healthy.”

Scully Expresses APA’s Support For Senate Student Mental Health Bill.Psychiatric News (3/23) reported, “US Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) has introduced a bill to provide support for teachers to learn about the key warning signs of mental health problems in students as well as the impact that mental health conditions can have on a student’s ability to learn and behave in the classroom. The Helping Educators Support All Students Act would create a four-year discretionary grant for state education agencies to provide training for teachers and other school staff in recognizing mental health issues.” In a letter [pdf] to Sen. Klobuchar, American Psychiatric Association “medical director and CEO James H. Scully Jr., MD, expressed APA’s support for the bill, saying the initiative ‘paves the way for highly successful and evidence-based training initiatives…to empower more of these professionals with the knowledge of mental illness, the ability to detect warning signs, and the ability to take appropriate action in linking adolescents to the services they need.'”

Related Links:

— “How would mental-health screening for kids at school work?, ” Sonja Isger, The Palm Beach Post, March 24, 2013.

USA Today (3/24, Bakeman) reported, “Psychiatrists, county officials and law enforcement are questioning a portion of New York’s new gun-control law that requires them to take steps that could lead to guns being seized from potentially dangerous people.” Since earlier this month, “New York’s Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act has required mental health professionals to report when a patient is a potential danger to himself or others.” According to USA Today, “therapists’ chief concern is that patients feeling suicidal or homicidal might conceal their troubles to avoid having their guns removed.”

Related Links:

— “Mental-health officials clash on N.Y. gun law reporting, “Jessica Bakeman, USA Today, March 24, 2013.

In an opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun (3/17), Steven S. Sharfstein, MD, president and CEO of Sheppard Pratt Health System in Baltimore, MD and a past president of the American Psychiatric Association, wrote, “In the intense debate on gun violence and mental illness, with a focus on the extremely rare event of mass murders such as in Newtown, Conn., or Aurora, Colo., what is lost in the conversation and debate is the serious suicide epidemic we experience in the United States every year due to gun violence.” Dr. Sharfstein pointed out, “Of 30,000 gun deaths in the US every year, nearly 20,000 are suicides.” Dr. Sharfstein concluded, “Barriers to purchasing a gun for those with a history of treatment for mental illness will likely have a positive impact on the suicide rate, but not much effect on the homicide rate.”

Related Links:

— “Mental illness and guns: the issue is suicide, “Steven S. Sharfstein, The Baltimore Sun, March 17, 2013.

The Los Angeles Times (3/20, Levey) reports that a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that three years after President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, the law “remains largely a mystery to most Americans.” Nearly “six in 10 Americans say they still don’t have enough information to understand how the Affordable Care Act will affect them. Ignorance about the law is even higher among Americans who stand to benefit most, with more than two-thirds of people without health insurance reporting they don’t have enough information.”

Related Links:

— “Ignorance about health law remains high, “Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times, March 20, 2013.