A Pontiac agency is helping persons

with mental disorders.

. .--
RUTHAN BRODSKY

Special to the Jewish News

A

Ilan Meltzer lost his job 10
years ago. He managed to find
work occasionally but he
couldn't hold a steady posi-
tion. Back then he lived with his family
in Oak Park; a few years later he was liv-
ing in cheap rooms and on the streets.
Ten years ago Meltzer vasdiagnosed
as manic depressive. Mental illness is a
medical malady as .real as cancer, only
more common. It is indiscriminate, vic-
timizing young, Old, rich and poor,
Jewish and non-Jewish. •
It is ubiquitous. Some sort of mental
disorder afflicts'more than one in five
Americans during their lifetime.
Today, Meltzer rents an apartment in
Pontiac, works on a.job that pays mini-
mum wage, and collects disability bene-
fits. He is recovering from his mental ill-
ness and gives much credit for his steady

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