Morgans seek mental-health improvements|Help available, say advocates

Published 11:04 pm Wednesday, October 14, 2009

By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor

The Mental Health Association in North Carolina recently paid tribute to Beaufort County residents John and Geneva Morgan by renaming its President’s Award in their honor.
The Morgans, who live in Washington, are adamant that the spotlight be shined instead on local efforts to assist the mentally ill, the developmentally and physically disabled and those suffering from the effects of drug and alcohol abuse.
“That is what our advocacy focuses on,” John Morgan said during an interview. “This all constitutes what you call mental health.”
Long active with the Mental Health Association of Beaufort County, the Morgans and other volunteers like them are dedicated to spreading the message throughout the area. One way is by sponsoring the Operation Santa Claus program, which, by Morgan’s estimate, touches 2,000 people each year.
Many of those people live in group homes in the area or are former Beaufort County residents now living in facilities located elsewhere in the state. According to Morgan, those facilities include Caswell Developmental Center in Kinston and Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro. Operation Santa Claus distributes new clothing, personal-care items and such notions as pencils and pads to the clients.
Geneva Morgan, a volunteer for about 40 years, serves as chairman of the Operation Santa Claus committee, and John Morgan, with 25 years as a volunteer under his belt, is the Beaufort County Mental Health Association’s volunteer administrator and treasurer.
The association also oversees a second-hand clothing ministry.
“Throughout the year, people will bring us good used clothing and we’ll take that to group homes and centers,” Morgan said.
Beaufort County’s Mental Health Association was established in 1964, according to Morgan.
“Helen Gautier was the longtime executive director of the association,” he said. “She retired and was followed by several part-time executive directors. As industries began closing in Washington, our monies decreased, so we now have an unpaid administrator, me. Michael Bilbro is president of the association’s board.”
The association is a United Way agency and as such benefits from quarterly checks to help support its work. Other donations come in from area churches, business and individuals in Beaufort County, Morgan added.
“We touch lives throughout Beaufort County and in those centers. That’s our bailiwick, our operating base,” he said. “We work collaboratively with the hospital, group homes and the Beaufort County Developmental Center.”
Morgan said that he and others like him are not professionals in mental-health care.
“We’re purely volunteer advocates. We’re not counselors, we’re not professionals,” he said. “But we can make referrals for those who need assistance.”
Another cause near and dear to the Morgans is the Saturday Night Jamboree, a monthly gathering for mentally and physically challenged people. Held at the Red Men’s Lodge in Washington, highlights of the Jamboree’s year include the Halloween carnival, Christmas party and a prom in May.
“Saturday Night Jamboree is its own organization, but we do anything that we can do during the year to help,” Morgan said.
As part of the association’s education drive, volunteers attend local health fairs and elder fairs to help spread the word about the services that are available.
“We want to educate the public about issues about mental illness,” Morgan said. “We distribute brochures at events, such as the health fair the City of Washington is holding in November for its employees.”
Acceptance of those who live with mental illness is another important part of the association’s work.
“Mental illness should not carry a stigma with it. By being stigmatized, people have been denied access to health insurance available to people with physical illnesses,” Morgan said. “We want to get the message out that you can find help for any mental illness you might have or a member of your family might have. You just have to be willing to educate yourself. We try to tell the public that a mental illness is the same as a physical illness.”