Rep. Ribble hosts roundtable on gun control, mental health, school safety
By: Millaine Wells
Updated: January 29, 2013
(WFRV) - A local congressman wants to see a bigger picture of gun violence before helping to craft any new laws.
Representative Reid Ribble hosted three round table events today.
First, he spoke with law enforcement, then mental health experts and finally school leaders.
Representative Ribble wanted to speak with these local experts so he could make informed votes in Washington DC.
However, gun control quickly took a backseat at these roundtable events.
"People will find ways of being violent whether they use guns or bombs or fire, they'll find their tool" Representative Ribble said to the group. "I think if we focus on a single thing then we're making something complex too simple, and simple never solves the problem".
At the mental health forum Doctors said there are too many regulations to share information about patients.
"Right now the barrier is that the two systems, the mental health system and the primary care system can't communicate effectively" explained Larry Donatelle, MD, The VP of Medical Affairs for St. Elizabeth Hospital.
The experts also asked Rep. Ribble for funding to train more helping hands.
Right now the average wait to see a mental health professional in the Fox Cities is three months.
"If we said that to a woman who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, oh you have breast cancer, we can see you in 3 months. The community would be outraged" says Karen Schiller, NAMI Fox Valley.
One in four people have a mental illness.
Experts told Representative Ribble the community needs to do its part to get rid of the stigma so more of those people get treatment.
"Because of the words we use, crazy, nuts, insane, nobody wants to be described that way and those are the words associated with mental illness" says Schiller.
Respect and building relationships was also key in the discussion about school safety.
"If kids feel like someone knows about them and cares about them there is going to be a trust and willingness to report if there is an incident or person of concern" says Howard / Suamico School Superintendent Damian LaCroix.
School leaders are also looking for the government to invest in more police liaisons and mental health professionals in their schools.
They also told Representative Ribble our local schools are safer then they have ever been.
