Mental health advocates and patients have known for a long time that Missoula County has a shortage of psychiatrists. Now the federal government recognizes the problem, too.
Thanks in part to the Mental Health Crisis Prevention Coalition - which consists of mostly local mental health patients - the federal government recently declared the county a Health Professional Shortage Area.
Though a shortage of medical providers isn't a good thing, having that label will allow the people of Missoula County to begin to change all that. For starters, the county now has access to 37 different federal programs.
By CHELSI MOY of the Missoulian
Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2007/12/30/news/mtregional/news08.txt