STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Snow turned the greens white first thing in the morning. And the temperature never climbed out of the lower 40s.
But mental illness never takes a day off. And, so, the show went on as NAMI-WRV staged its second annual Swing Fore Recovery golf tourney Friday afternoon at Elkhorn Golf Course.
“The sun came out brilliantly for the start. Then we played one green totally covered in hail. Then the wind howled. And then the sun came back out. It was a gift from the Creator!” said Gail Wray.
Golfers substituted fur hats and ski sweaters for their Birdie shorts and golf skorts as they made the rounds. While last year’s tourney was colored by golden aspen, this year’s was framed by dark clouds made all the more dramatic by snow white mountain slopes.
Gina Ballou dropped her long neon pink down coat every time she played a hole. Sandi Viau, in contrast, stayed bundled.
“But it was tough playing with all those clothes on!” she said.
But players were good natured, reminded along the way why they were there by signs that informed them of such things as “One in five adults in the U.S. experience mental illness in a given year.”
Most of those taking part, including Keith Perry, Greg Fairfield and Kirby Mays, were longtime aficionados of the game, which originated in 15th century Scotland. But Gigi Pichon gamely took her place on NAMI’s team, even though she had never picked up a club in her life.
Her team came in last, rolling up a score of 93 that was nearly twice that of the winner. But it was the cause that counted, she noted.
The local chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness provides peer-to-peer support groups, as well as 12 free classes for relatives, friends and employers of those dealing with mental health challenges.
The organization proved a lifesaver for Nancy Kennette 23 years ago when her son was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 17.
“It’s very devastating for family members. You want to get angry. You don’t know what to do,” she said. “The people in NAMI helped us figure out how to cover the medications my son needed, which cost $1,500 a month. They showed us how to apply for Medicaid, how to navigate our way through the system. And, most of all, they helped us understand that we weren’t to blame.”
Kennette was so grateful that she began leading local family-to-family classes. She even went to the national offices of NAMI in Washington, D.C., to learn how to teach others to lead classes.
The class gets between eight and 12 participants at a time. It has fielded 150 graduates since 2000.
“My son’s 40 now and it’s been a journey. Those with schizophrenia often go off their meds or their meds stop working. And, in addition, my other son was diagnosed with bipolar schizoaffective disorder five years ago at age 35,” she added.
Mental illnesses are biologically-based brain disorders that make it difficult for those afflicted to deal with the ordinary demands of life unless treated, said Roger Olson, one of the classroom teachers.
“With most medical issues you don’t have to deal with the brain like you do with mental illness. With mental illness is not about ‘Take two pills and call me in the morning.’ It can a long drawn-out path to recovery and generally the path differ very much from one individual to another,” he said.
“One of the things we hear most often from those who take our class is: I wish I’d known about this earlier.”
One in four young adults deal with some kind of mental illness, including depression, and yet we don’t talk about it in our schools, Curt “Cod” Mays told golfers as they downed post-game dinners of prime rib and cheesecake.
NAMI intern Amber Leyba recently started a teen program at Wood River High School. And NAMI provides CIT training to law officers so they understand the unique tools to talk someone dealing with psychosis and other problems out of a crisis.
“It’s so important. We don’t want them shot,” said Tom Hanson, who became involved with NAMI after his son suffered challenges.
THE WINNERS:
Longest Drive: Elysse Smidinger and Peter Atkinson
Closest to the Pin: Janet Bostwick and Adam Quarles
First place, with a score of 54: Mike Seward, Elysse Smidinger, Gardiner Young.
Second place, with a score of 55: Marc Reinemann, Tim Graves, Jack Reilly, Shaun Archer
Third place, with a score of 55: Jason Peter, Andy Armstrong, Murph Grainger, Tony Magnuson.