House Proceeding 03-30-09 on Mar 30th, 2009 :: 1:34:30 to 1:38:00
Total video length: 2 hours 42 minutes Stream Tools: Stream Overview | Edit Time

Note: MetaVid video transcripts may contain inaccuracies, help us build a more perfect archive

Views:66 Duration: 0:03:30 Discussion

Previous speech:

Next speech:

1:34:27 to 1:34:48( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick J. Kennedy: i stand in support of this legislation and hope that my colleagues will join me and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd yield now three minutes to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. kennedy, who has been such a leader on so many health care issues, including this one.

1:34:30 to 1:38:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Patrick J. Kennedy

1:34:49 to 1:35:10( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick J. Kennedy: the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from rhode island, mr. kennedy, is recognized for three minutes. mr. kennedy: i thank the gentleman from new jersey and thank him for his leadership on this issue and many others regarding mental health. and just want to concur with him that and mr. rush from illinois that this issue of mental health and postpartum depression i'm glad to see is on the agenda for health care. we're in the year of health

1:35:11 to 1:35:33( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick J. Kennedy: care reform, and it's so vital that the issue of the tota health of our people is an issue that makes itself -- makes its way into health care reform. country seek help in our health care system and yet don't receive it because our health

1:35:34 to 1:35:54( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick J. Kennedy: care system does not respond to the total health of a person. it responds to the part of the person but does not respond to the emotional, the sympathetic part of a person, the psychological which is the mental health part of the person, the spiritual which is the sense of purpose that a

1:35:55 to 1:36:16( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick J. Kennedy: person has for their life. job in this country in traing our doctors to take care of a person as if they were a machine and we could fix a peon if they had a broken bone or ifhey had something at we could show on an x-ray

1:36:17 to 1:36:38( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick J. Kennedy: or we could test through a blood test. t if we can't show it on an x-ray or blood test then we really don't know what to do. and my friends, the fact of the matter is we're much more than just the sum of our parts. we have a really much bigger part of this as mental health and emotional health of our people.

1:36:39 to 1:36:59( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick J. Kennedy: and that is why we need to do a lot more to address this if we're going to address our people's health in in country. and frankly mental illnesses are the second leading cause of loss days in our country. and it's quite surprising that even given that statistic our health care system doesn't

1:37:00 to 1:37:21( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick J. Kennedy: respond to this challenge. and so i'm glad to see that this legislaon calls on greater research into this area because frankly there is a physical element to this. the body does change as a result of mental health problems.

1:37:22 to 1:37:44( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick J. Kennedy: we now know thanks to the new x-ray machines that we can actually see biochemical changes in the brain. we can see these biochemical changes in the brain thanks to these new functional magnetic imaging exams. but furthermore, i think it's so important for people to know that we want a vibrant and

1:37:45 to 1:38:01( Edit History Discussion )

Patrick J. Kennedy: productive people, and we want them to feel active and alive. and the best way to do that is to make sure that we give them all th this country. and to do that we need to make sure that they get all of the support and they get their checkup from their neck up just