The UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health has received an $850,000, three-year grant from The Duke Endowment to create a health home, integrating primary care into its mental health care programs for people in Orange, Person and Chatham counties.
The center is part of the department of psychiatry within the UNC School of Medicine and offers a continuum of care for people with severe and persistent mental illness.
Its programs include Outreach and Support Intervention Services (OASIS); the Schizophrenia Treatment and Evaluation Program (STEP); and its recently merged partner, XDS Inc.
“Many [people with severe mental illnesses] don’t have access to primary health care to identify and treat their physical diseases,†said John Gilmore, the center’s director, “and mental illness can diminish a person’s capacity to seek and manage their medical care.
“The newer medications used for serious mental illness sometimes exacerbate the problem by causing obesity and diabetes.†


Individuals with schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses have a high rate of chronic medical diseases and die 25 years sooner than the average person. More than 60 percent of the excess deaths are due to chronic medical conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and infections.
The integration of primary and psychiatric care has been recognized as a way to provide better quality of life for persons with severe mental illness and lower the cost of their overall health care.
Researchers will look for improvement in areas such as diabetes, weight management and improvement in cardiovascular disease indicators.
– Staff Reports