May 1, 1967, marked the beginning of National Health Week which highlights the vast improvements that have been made in the field of mental health.

Not so very long ago the mentally ill were outcasts, disgraces to society, and smears on the family honor. There was no one to help them and no one that really wanted to. The asylums that were built to house them became prisons locking them away from the outside world. Asylums that were originally built to protect them from the inhumanities of man became prisons to lock them away.

Today new progress is being made in the mental health fields. Steps are being taken to achieve new understanding of the mentally ill in the home, schools, and community. Treatment staffs, special advisers, and hospitals work to gain new insight into the problem.

It is through new understanding, sympathy, a willingness to help, and acceptance into society that the patients of today and the mentally ill of tomorrow can follow a road to recovery.

A helping hand in a time of need, instead of criticism, will help the mentally ill to become normal citizens of today's world.