An Analysis of the Mental Health Services Available to the Elderly Within Oregon: Using Multnomah County as a Special Case Study Area

The purpose of this study was to identify the mental health services available to the elderly residents of Oregon, and to assess the effectiveness of these services in providing mental health treatment to elderly persons. In order to reasonably narrow the scope of this study, the investigation of mental health services was limited primarily to those agencies which are publicly funded and controlled by state or local bodies. In addition, Multnomah County was selected as a case study area in order to further narrow the scope of the study. Multnomah County was selected because of the convenience of its geographical location for this researcher and Student Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG) personnel, but more importantly, because Multnomah County is one of the most urbanized areas of the state, with a large number of mental health services geographically accessible to its elderly residents. Additionally, this county contains approximately 31% of all elderly residents in Oregon