To the Editor:

So many stories have been told about the horrible incident that happened in St. Clair Township on Jan. 22.

Fact: two people died and their beautiful families are devastated, their lives will never be the same.

Fact: A police officer was severely wounded and he/his family are devastated and their lives will never be the same.

I want to tell you a little bit about Joseph Como. Joe was a young man with a terrible illness — schizophrenia. There are people who are referring to him as a horrible or evil person, but the fact is Joe was neither of these things. Joe was a very sick person. He was very ill for many years and his family tried desperately to get help for him. However, because mental illness is so stigmatized, many in the community at large do not understand or maybe do not want to understand. They live by old beliefs that mental illness is the individual’s fault or that if they had a stronger faith, they wouldn’t have these problems. Mental illness is a disease of the body just like cancer or heart disease. The mind is part of the body, and if the rest of the body can be affected by disease, so can the mind. Mentally ill people are sent to hospital emergency rooms and because there are no beds available for them in specialized settings to support and treat these individuals, they are released back into the community in the same condition that brought them to the hospital in the first place. Even for the very few of these individuals who are lucky enough to get into a facility for treatment, they may only have their medications adjusted or changed and they are released after a few days. Did you know it takes at least 10 to 14 days for the many psychiatric medications to build up enough in a person’s system to make a change in their thinking, mood, and behavior? Yet these individuals are not given enough time in the hospital for that to happen.

Many psychiatric units and hospitals have been shut down for one reason or another, and these individuals have nowhere to get the help they desperately need.

How do I know this?

Because I am a person who lives with a mental illness. I am a person who works in the mental health field. I see what happens to these forgotten individuals and families until a severe incident happens, like what happened right here in Columbiana County.

I am begging you to HEAR the voice of the mentally ill and their families. “Listen” and “silent” are spelled with the exact same letters for a reason — for if you are truly listening to the voices of those with mental illness and their families, your mind is silent to the old stereotypes, myths and beliefs which often drown out the voices of the reality about mental illness and the lack of services, supports and treatment for these individuals.

We are people, too; our lives matter; our illness can be treated; we can recover and live active and productive lives. However, without the support of the communities in which we live, the dollars to provide the services and supports that are available for so many other illness/diseases, and a better understanding of mental illness in the medical community, individuals with mental illnesses and their families will remain in the darkness of their disease.

Maureen Waybright

Salem