Opportunity to raise awareness

To me this is a time, then, to raise awareness in York County as to the treasure we have in this community in Bell Socialization Services and the CHIPP programs, two of the aforementioned programs with which I have some familiarity since my sister is one of their clients.

The levels of constant caring, attention, and consideration shown by the Bell and CHIPP staffs to my sister have been unbelievable, "rescuing" her, so to speak, from life in the state hospital, to the immense relief and appreciation of my family, and enabling her to have the dignity of living a basically normal life on her own--a happy life at that, even despite the fact that she was one of those who unfortunately lost her apartment in the latest fire.

That is the overall goal of Bell and CHIPP: through daily support, to help normalize the lives of the many folks in our society who have mental health issues to varying degrees.

The CHIPP staff has been a reassuring constant for my sister for fifteen years now, providing daily monitoring, medications, allowances (enabled through her own Social Security earnings and the foresight of our now deceased mother, whose over-riding concern in later years was the welfare of her daughter), transportation, counseling, and whatever else has been needed.

Bell Socialization Services has been so much more than just a CHIPP partner. Through conversations with people from around this country, I've been surprised to learn that many areas have nothing approaching Bell's grand umbrella of protective and life-enhancing services for people with mental illness in the community. Many of these innovative services have been the result of Bell's open-mindedness through the years to new ideas and its willingness to give them a try when they seemed worthy.

Starting from basically nothing back in 1966 and with but a handful of employees, Bell has grown into the equivalent of a mid-size business, having now more than three hundred on its staff. Presently Bell has a number of group homes and single apartments throughout the county, enabling more than two hundred clients with mental health issues to lead secure lives in friendly environments. It has shelters for battered women. It has developed businesses such as Restore, which sells left-over building products donated by York County businesses, and Auction Inn York, which performs a local E-Bay function for the community, thereby providing vocational training and job opportunities for Bell clients who wish to work.

Bell has socialization programs to build daily living skills and develop positive client participation in the respective neighborhoods, programs such as the Drop-in Center, Oasis for vocational training, and day programming at Bell which includes workshops, art and craft skill development, and outings.

With the greatest gratitude my family and I salute the highly caring personnel of Bell and CHIPP and their involvement in our community on behalf of people with MH/MR issues. Wherever Bell has seen a need in this field, it has moved to be a part of the solution.

Robert F. Merrill
York Township