Low-income people with chronic mental illness will be the target population of the Roanoke Valley’s newest provider of mental health support services.

Roanoke Resource held an opening ceremony today at 335 Day Avenue, a historic home where the locally-owned business will operate.

The center will treat adults who are covered by Medicaid.

The mentally ill, particularly those with little financial resources, have long been an under-served population that Roanoke Resource hopes to reach.

“We’re just really looking forward to helping support the community,” said co-owner Celia McCauley-Wittl, who started the venture along with Courtni Sandras.

The support center  has four main goals: decreasing homelessness in the region; reducing readmissions to psychiatric hospitals; helping its clients become more active in the community; and building strong community ties.

Roanoke Resource will work closely with other support services such as the Roanoke Rescue Mission and Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare.

Seven people currently work at the office, which anticipates treating about 70 to 80 high-need individuals a year.

As I approach my 28th year with The Roanoke Times, I am still a rookie when it comes to two things: Blogging and health care coverage.

So please bear with me as I attempt to cover the beat, and maintain this blog, as well as Sarah has done over the past five years.

Although a newcomer to the beat, I have produced stories in the past as a courts and general assignment reporter that touched on medical issues. I’ve written about prescription drug abuse, health care fraud, how the shortage of beds in mental hospitals caused a backlog of psychiatric patients in emergency rooms, and Carilion Clinic’s practice of collecting unpaid medical bills through thousands of court actions, sometimes mistakenly suing patients who should have qualified for charity care.

I’ve also done some feature stories, such as this piece about Carilion’s Physicians on Foot program to encourage patients to exercise more.

As I start the new beat, I’m looking forward to hearing your story ideas and suggestions.