By Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell on Friday presented $600,000 to Alabama Regional Medical Services (ARMS) to help expand the facility’s mental health and substance use services and combat the mental health and opioid crises.
“This is a happy day for this organization, and the City of Birmingham,” said Ted Greer, CEO of ARMS. “We see the violence that’s happening in our community. We see families who are distraught for many reasons. One being because they don’t have the resources that they need. … We’re finally going to have some resources in our community, right here in the city of Birmingham to offer our patients, our clients, all of that.”
Sewell said she has made it her mission to bring federal dollars back to her Congressional district to make the community “safer, healthier, and more prosperous,” she said.
“At Alabama Regional Medical Services, you all were the true heroes and sheroes of the pandemic, and we are forever grateful to your profound sacrifice both physically and emotionally in the name of keeping us safe,” Sewell said. “When our most vulnerable Alabamians needed care, it is our community health centers who stand in the gap.”
ARMS provides low-cost health care services and facilities to people who can’t afford to pay or who lack insurance.
A 2024 report by Mental Health America found that most people with a substance use disorder in the U.S. are not receiving treatment. According to the report, one in five youth had at least one major depressive episode in the last year — with over half not receiving treatment, and 10 percent of adults with a mental illness are uninsured.
In Alabama, 41 percent of adults sought medical treatment for a mental health issue between 2017-2019, according to the 2020 state health assessment. Mental health and substance abuse is ranked as the first health indicator in the state, meaning residents and organizations deemed it to be the most important health issue in Alabama.
