Group demands police funds be directed to mental health

Sep. 30--A rally for health care access in downtown Johnstown Tuesday included demands to redirect funding for additional Johnstown police to provide more mental health services.

"No more cops; no more cops," about a dozen marchers chanted as they moved from Central Park to City Hall.

When the group arrived at City Hall at 4:20 p.m., leaders knocked on the locked door and an employee in the finance department came out. Organizer Madeline Burrows presented the city worker with a letter to Mayor Frank Janakovic.

Burrows then read the letter on the steps of the Johnstown's seat of government.

"The Johnstown Healthcare Human Rights Committee of Put People First! PA is alarmed at City Council's plan to hire more police and increase the (police) budget by $500,000 over the next three years -- half of which will come from city coffers."

The letter points to the Johnstown's classification as a financially distressed city.

"If the city has the money, it should be used to ensure that when someone calls 911 about a mental health crisis, mental health professionals respond, not cops with guns," the letter says.

Organizer Ron Moose, of Johnstown, said the small group carried an important message.

"We are reaching out with as much energy as we can provide," Moose said in Central Park.

"Any kind of turnout and any kind of exposure to present our demands is a positive thing."

Burrows addressed the rally participants at the park.

"We are still struggling and people are denied care," she said. "There are people dying in this country because of poverty every day."

The Johnstown rally was part of a series of Medicaid Marches this week, organized by Put People First! PA. The organization is demanding that Gov. Tom Wolf apply for a federal waiver to expand Medicaid to all Pennsylvania residents and establish a state public health advocate.

Medicaid Marches will be held on Thursday in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Friday in Wilkes Barre and Saturday in Lancaster County, Montgomery County and Altoona. The Altoona march begins at 2 p.m. outside UPMC Altoona, 620 Howard St.

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