ID Bracelets Available For Mental Health Safety, Awareness In Oak Park

OAK PARK, IL — The Oak Park Police Department is offering identification bracelets for patients who deal with mental illness. The green silicone bracelets will be available to encourge mental health awareness. They can be equipped with a metal plate imprinted with an identification number to help emergency responders identify the patient wearing them. The idea is similar to that of medical bracelets for physical ailments.

The campaign is part of a partnership between Oak Park Police, Elementary School District 97 and the Oak Park Township Mental Health Board. The hope is to remove the stigma surrounding mental illness and provide a safe method of identification for patients with dementia, Alzheimer's, autism and other conditions.

Oak Park Police don't want to "single out" patients with mental illness, so the faceplates are optional. Patients, friends, family members and mental health advocates can also wear the green bracelets to show their support of mental health awareness.

To find out how to get a bracelet, call 708.386.3800, email police@oak-park.us or visit the Police Department at Village Hall, 123 Madison Street.

>>Image via By South Carolina Governor Nikki R. Haley (Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week Rally) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons