Dana Miller Ervin
Dana Miller Ervin is a reporter, examining the U.S. health care system. She originally joined WFAE as a Holly and Paul Freestone Health Care Reporting Fellow.
Ervin is an award-winning journalist who has worked at “60 Minutes,” CNBC, “CBS This Morning” and “Nightline.” She has three Emmy Awards for investigative reporting and research, as well as a Peabody Award and an Alfred I. DuPont Award. Ervin has also served as a senior, nonpartisan investigator for the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, digging deep into big government programs.
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WFAE reporter Dana Miller Ervin discusses "Fractured," WFAE's series on North Carolina's mental health system. -
For the past five weeks, WFAE has been reporting on the fissures in the system in our series "Fractured." The state’s jails are also on the frontlines of the mental health crisis. Jail staff have to tend to inmates with mental health issues, even though they’re not fully equipped to do so. That can take a high toll on those jails — and the people who work there.
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For the past month, WFAE has been examining North Carolina’s broken mental health system, especially as it affects people in the criminal justice system. This week, we start to look at the impact this system has on others, such as children, who wait for weeks or months in hospital emergency departments because there’s simply no place for them to go. And people who head to emergency rooms in crisis, only to find the average wait for a state psychiatric hospital is more than two weeks.
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For the past three weeks, WFAE’s "Fractured" series has reported on the struggles of inmates living with mental illness. But it isn’t just inmates who wait. On average, North Carolinians who go to an emergency room in crisis wait 16 days for a state psychiatric hospital bed.
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For the last two weeks, WFAE — with support from the PBS series, "FRONTLINE" — has been examining the problem of inmates living with mental illness. This week we focus on ways to help former inmates stay out of jail. And the ways the system fails to do that.
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For those living with severe mental illness, the chances of becoming homeless can be high. Once homeless, they’re more likely to end up behind bars. Going to jail can start a downward spiral. Many lose jobs or benefits — even health care. Some will cycle between jail and the streets for years — often for minor crimes like trespassing. Last week, WFAE — with support from the PBS series, "FRONTLINE" — examined the problem of inmates who wait in custody for months because they’re too sick to stand trial. This week we focus on inmates who cycle in and out of jail, serving what many in the court system call a “life sentence on the installment plan.”
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Crisis describes North Carolina’s mental health system. It is harder to access mental health care here than most other states, and that affects everyone — particularly the most vulnerable. Like inmates who are too sick to stand trial. They often wait months in custody for the treatment they need just to be well enough to go to court.
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The story behind Fractured, a WFAE investigation — with support from the PBS series, FRONTLINE — into the failure of North Carolina’s mental health system, and its impact on the most vulnerable.
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In this series, legal terms are used often. Here are explanations of some of the terms.
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Medicare's decision to limit coverage for a controversial new Alzheimer's drug has prompted an outcry among Alzheimer's advocates. The drug is Aduhelm, and despite widespread enthusiasm for it among Alzheimer's patients and advocates, it hasn't been proven to slow the disease. The drug was given accelerated approval by the Food and Drug Administration because it reduces the plaque that develops in the brains of most Alzheimer’s patients.
