Senators this week had an often bitter debate over the future of care for Iowans with acute mental illnesses. A Republican from northwest Iowa offered an alternative that said mentally ill patients should be placed in the most appropriate and highest level of care possible. Senator Rob Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, scoffed.

One of the state’s four Mental Health Institutes is located in Cherokee. Senator David Johnson, a Republican from Ocheyedan, snapped back.

The debate was sparked by Governor Terry Branstad’s move to close the state-run Mental Health Institutes in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant.
Republican senators retreated into a private meeting for two hours before emerging shortly before 6:30 p.m. Senators passed a bill that called on officials to keep the Clarinda and Mount Pleasant Mental Health Institutes open and accept patients through June 30th. Another bill that passed on a 29-19 vote called for keeping the M-H-I’s open until a “long-term” plan was in place to ensure there’s care somewhere for the most severely mentally ill Iowans.