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TEARS FOR A SONUN says Russians arekeeping Georgiansfrom their homes. See story page A4.

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DAILY NUMBER A2

➤ For some, theshame complicatestheir struggles

This is the first in a weekly series on the stigma

of mental illness.

By David RileyDAILY NEWS STAFF

If Cindy had a heart ailment, adoctor might have sat her downand walked her through her op-tions for treatment.

Battling mental illness, shesays she was locked in a statehospital and told by a staffmember she would be lucky ifshe ever got out.

If she broke a bone, Cindy

might have gotten a cast,crutches and a little patience athome.

Grappling with bipolar disor-der, post-traumatic stress andsubstance abuse, her husbandsaid she was lazy and her treat-ment was just ‘‘a vacation.’’

For decades, most health pro-fessionals have accepted thatmental illnesses are legitimate,serious medical problems. Butfor many who suffer from them,they often remain a source ofshame and ridicule, and for thepublic, a cause for fear, suspi-cion or misunderstanding.

‘‘It’s just slow for people to re-alize it’s a real illness,’’ said IrisCarroll, director of Programs for

Battling thestigma alongwith illness

BARRIERS, Page A8

By Peter ReuellDAILY NEWS STAFF

From the outside, they looked like anyother assortment of little old ladies.

Moments after I walked into theSunshine Club at Franklin’s SeniorCenter, Lena Vitti filled me in on therules: ‘‘You have to smile to come inthe door.’’

Little did I know I was stepping into the lion’s den.I’d gone to Franklin to take on Vitti and a handful

of other seniors in a game of what’s become thehottest must-have item at area senior centers – Wiibowling.

Sure, I was a Wii newbie – the closest I’d come tousing the video game system was a display at BestBuy, but being in my early 30s, and part of the gen-eration that grew up with video games, I went infeeling pretty confident.

Vitti and other members of the Sunshine Club,though, were ready for me, and they had their game

New Orleans began evacuation plans as Gustav grew into a category 4 storm with winds topping 145 mph.

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Hurricane Gustav LOCATION MOVEMENT MAX WIND

21.6° N NW 14 mph 145 mph

82.5° W

FLA.

ALA.

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APSOURCES: NOAA; ESRI

0 200 mi

0 200 km

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8 a.m. Sun.

8 a.m. Mon.

8 a.m. Tue.

All times EDTMISS.

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Catagory 4

Wii LOVE TO BOWL

Nintendo video game virtually thrills seniors

Registerednurse Patty

O’Donnell, right,watches as 82-year-old

Yvonne Pepintries her hand

at video bowlingat the FranklinSenior Center.Below, Margo

Theodoss, right,boxes againstsocial servicesadvocate ReneeGrenier during a Wii class at the Hudson

Senior Center.

DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY MIKE SPRINGER, ABOVE; DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY ALLAN JUNG, BELOW

‘‘It’s on our short list of new fitness activities.”Amy Loveless, executive director of the Marlborough Council on AgingBOWLING, Page A8

AP PHOTO BY ROB CARR

New Orleans residents evacuate from the approaching Hurricane Gustav at theGreyhound Bus and Amtrak station yesterday. A million people took to Gulf Coasthighways as the season’s most powerful Atlantic storm takes aim at Louisiana.

➤ Candidates glad tohave the backing, butit’s votes that count

By Dan McDonaldDAILY NEWS STAFF

It’s election season. Cue theendorsements.

As the race for the 6th Middle-sex District state representativeseat among Democrats DawnHarkness, Chris Walsh and in-cumbent state Rep. PamRichardson, inches closer to theSept. 16 primary, political al-

liances have emerged.But does a list of local lumi-

naries and unions praising a poladd votes, or offer any meaning-ful nuance to such a race?

Some voters suggest the en-dorsement is nothing more thanacutely calculated networking,an old-fashioned political powerplay.

Framingham RepublicanTown Committee Chairman EdMcGrath, for one, can not recallan instance when a single en-dorsement swayed his vote.

How can a political endorsement help?

ENDORSEMENTS, Page A7

By Becky BohrerASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW ORLEANS – Spooked bypredictions that Hurricane Gustavcould grow into a Category 5 mon-ster, an estimated 1 million peoplefled the Gulf Coast yesterday – evenbefore the official order came forNew Orleans residents to get out ofthe way of a storm taking dead aimat Louisiana.

Mayor Ray Nagin gave themandatory order late yesterday,but all day residents took to buses,trains, planes and cars – cloggingroadways leading away from NewOrleans, still reeling three yearsafter Hurricane Katrina flooded 80percent of the city and killed about1,600 across the region.

The evacuation of New Orleansbecame mandatory today at 8 a.m.along the vulnerable west bank ofthe Mississippi River, and at noonon the east bank. Nagin called GUSTAV, Page A6

Romney prepsfor 2nd run if McCain fails

AP NEWS ANALYSIS

By Glen JohnsonASSOCIATED PRESS

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Like his father, Mitt Rom-ney ran for governor and won. Like his father,Mitt Romney ran for president and lost.

The question now is whether Mitt Romneyonce again follows in the footsteps of GeorgeRomney and serves the president in a Cabinetposition.

By all accounts, he hopes not.Since ending his own bid for the Republican

presidential nomination in February, formerMassachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has played therole of supplicant, doing everything asked of himto advance the candidacy of his former rival, thepresumptive GOP nominee John McCain.

He played attack dog in media interviewsarranged by the McCain’s staff, even enduring

Strengthening storm takes aim at Gulf Coast

ROMNEY, Page A6

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FROM THE FRONT PAGE

BOWLING, From A1faces on.

The club earlier this monthheld a bowling tournament –timed to coincide with theOlympics – using the console,and had several players rollscores of well over 100, pro-gram coordinator Patty O’Don-nell said.

‘‘Once you getthe knack ofpressing twobuttons at thesame time, it’sas if you’re bowl-ing,’’ O’Donnellsaid.

For seniorslike Vitti, the illu-sion is only partof the fun.

The game,which requiresplayers to standin front of the TV and sweeptheir arms forward as if bowl-ing, offers a chance for fun, low-impact activity, and - maybemost importantly - the chancefor social interaction.

During our game, seniorscheered each other on as play-ers scored spares and broke outin applause for the game’s lonestrike, scored, unfortunately forme, by Vitti.

It’s those sort of benefits thathave senior centers throughoutMetroWest scrambling to gettheir hands on what’s alreadyone of the hottest electronicitems for kids.

At the Bellingham Senior Cen-ter, director Laura DeMattiaearlier this summer was able toget a Wii on loan from one of thetown’s selectmen, but the gameconsole proved too popular.‘‘We went ahead and pur-chased one,’’ she said.

‘‘I would say the response hasbeen very positive,’’ she said.While the social and recreation-al aspects of the games havestruck a chord among seniorcenter users, DeMattia believesmany seniors also just want tostay in the loop when it comes totechnology.

‘‘I honestly think moreso the

driving force behind this is whatpeople see on TV and what theyexperience with their families,’’she said. ‘‘People who knowtheir grandkids are using this,they seem to be very intriguedand want to compete on an evenplaying field. (This way) theycan do it with their peers, thentake it back home and show ‘em

how it’s done.’’While a hand-

ful of senior cen-ters in the regionalready have aWii system, mostothers fall intoanother catego-ry: those whichdon’t have one,but – like most12 year olds –d e s p e r a t e l ywant one.

‘‘We do nothave one yet, but we desperatelywant one,’’ said Moira Munns ofthe Council on Aging in Natick.

Having a Wii at the center, shesaid, would open the possibilityof running inter-generationalprograms, allowing seniors tocompete with their grandchil-dren.

‘‘I have heard of other coun-cils on aging that have leagues,’’she said. ‘‘I think it would be alot of fun. If it’s part of a bal-anced program of activity ... Ican see where it would be bene-ficial in some ways.’’

For some, like Joanne Duffy,director of the Ashland SeniorCenter, the challenge isn’t in thegame, it’s in finding one andmaking sure she can afford it.

‘‘They’re hard to get,’’ shesaid. ‘‘Every time (we) find out,we run out to buy it, but wedon’t have the budget for it.’’

At a time when municipalbudgets are stretched thin, even$250 for the Wii sports gamespackage can be tough to comeup with.

‘‘We are going to have one,ASAP,’’ vowed Amy Loveless,executive director of the Marl-borough Council on Aging. ‘‘It’son our short list of new fitnessactivities.

‘‘Two years ago, we had peo-ple bowling in our main room,and we had bocce outside, butfor some people it was too phys-ical. I think (the Wii) is going tobe a catalyst for, perhaps, par-ticipating more in physical ac-tivity, more social activity and Ithink it’s going to be good for thememory.’’

Earlier this year, HopkintonSenior Center officials appliedfor a grant to get a Wii, but wereturned down.

‘‘We would like one, but it’s justone of those things that just hasto kind of come our way. Wedon’t have the budget for it,’’ saidAssistant Director Sally Almy.

‘‘It would be something peo-ple could do at any time - itwould not need a special class,’’she said. ‘‘It’s not something se-niors are apt to have in theirhomes. I think the senior centeris a good place for one.’’

Milford Senior Center DirectorRuth Anne Bleakney was able tofind a Wii, but has so far resistedsetting up the video game con-sole because the center doesn’thave a flat-screen TV.

‘‘From everybody I’ve talkedto, they’re a lot of fun,’’ she said,adding that the center also in-vested in a ‘‘Dancing with the

Stars’’ game. ‘‘A lot of rehabili-tation places are using them toincrease range of motion. Wehave a group here that’s readyto use it. I keep telling them, ‘It’scoming, it’s coming.’ ‘’

For seniors like Vitti, the ben-efits are incalculable.

‘‘It’s very nice,’’ she said be-tween frames of our bowlingmatch. ‘‘I love it. We’re havingfun, it’s really fun. It’s wonderful.’’

And in the end, it’s harderthan it looks, because while Ilose, 110 to 104, I can take so-lace in the fact that I held myown.

Next time, I’ll be ready.

DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY ALLAN JUNG

Margo Theodoss laughs after scoring a strike in bowling during a Wii class at the Hudson Senior Center.

DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY ALLAN JUNG

Eric Donovan, 12, of Northborough demonstrates how to bowl as he teaches a Wii class to seniors atthe Hudson Senior Center.

Virtual bowlingstrikes seniorsas a lot of fun

“A lot of rehabilitation

places are usingthem to increaserange of motion.”

Ruth Anne BleakneyMilford Senior Center director

BARRIERS, From A1People, a Framingham agency thathelps people to recover from mental ill-ness and succeed. ‘‘I see it definitelychanging, but not fast enough.’’

Four clients at Programs for People,who agreed to speak with the DailyNews without giving their full names,say stigma against the mentally ill isalive and well in many aspects of theirlives.

Mark, who was hit by a truck in De-cember, says he believes his diagnosiswith mental illness led a doctor not totake his wishes seriously and foregosurgery he requested on his badly bro-ken leg.

‘‘I didn’t have anybody to sign or ad-vocate for me,’’ Mark said.

For Melissa, her struggles with de-pression and post-traumatic stress costher ties with most of her family andwreaked havoc with jobs.

‘‘I feel like people don’t understand,’’Melissa said. ‘‘I’m labeled like youshould get it, or you should have knownbetter, so snap out of it.’’

Cindy said she was called a ‘‘nut-case’’ when she called her son’s schoolto iron out a problem with a teacher.She said she encountered bias withinthe mental health system itself, whereher own goals often seemed an af-terthought to some of the people treat-ing her.

‘‘We want guidance,’’ said Cindy,‘‘but we also want a voice.’’

Bill found understanding from some

bosses, but was fired by a managerwho found out about his battle with de-pression. When a coworker learned hehad been hospitalized, he told Bill he al-ways looked ‘‘twilighted.’’

Research shows these are not isolatedstories. A study published online thismonth in the Social Science andMedicine journal found Americans in-creasingly believe there are medical andgenetic explanations for mental illnesses.

Yet depending on the type of illness,people were no more tolerant towardthe people with these ailments thanthey were 10 years ago, the study said.

A new Canadian survey found onlyhalf of respondents would tell friendsor coworkers if a family member wasdiagnosed with a mental illness, com-

pared to 72 percent for cancer. Morethan a quarter said they would fearbeing around a person with a mentaldisorder, despite the fact that most arenot dangerous, and 46 percent saidpeople use mental illness as an excusefor bad behavior.

In the U.S., barriers to employmentkeep an estimated 80 percent to 90percent of people with mental illnessesout of the workplace, according to theNational Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

This is despite the fact that one infour adults suffer from a diagnosablemental disorder in a given year, saysthe National Institute for MentalHealth. Of those with mental illnesses,nearly half suffer from two or more dis-orders, according to the institute.

There are signs that stigma is chang-ing. Pending federal legislation aims torequire more equitable coverage inhealth plans for treatment of mental ill-ness. Studies show more people areseeking and getting treatment, and allthose interviewed at Programs for Peo-ple described great progress.

‘‘I’ve grown stronger,’’ Melissa said.‘‘I’m trying to rebuild my life.’’

They are speaking out against thebarriers they have faced.

‘‘I’d like people to know we’re real,and we’re not different from you oranybody else in the world,’’ Melissasaid. ‘‘We’re equal, and we have a rightto be here and not be stigmatized.’’

(David Riley can be reached at 508-626-3919 or driley@cnc.com.)

Program strives to help those struggling with stigma, illness