Last week, the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Department passed a plan to cut 100 jobs and consolidate state mental health services, according to NewsOK.com. The plan would combine two Norman health centers, the site said.

A source in the article cited budget cuts as the reason for the plan, and we understand this. After all, we are dealing with tough economic times, and every department is dealing with the economic consequences.

But it scares us that funding cuts have necessitated this consolidation. Mental health care is already in worse shape than it should be, and these new developments won’t help.

Fewer people who need mental health treatment will have access to it, thanks to these measures, and this is a problem for all Oklahomans, not just those who have mental health issues.

Oklahoma Rep. Wallace Collins, D-Norman, summarizes this well in the article, saying, “In the name of saving money, we will spend more money in the long run. These people will be turned out on the street, and they’ll end up in jail or prison.”

If Collins is right, this would also additionally burden Oklahoma’s prison system, which is dealing with overcrowding and budget constraints already.

But what can be done? We are in an economic recession, which means some budget cuts cannot be avoided.

We don’t, however, like seeing any health care services receive cuts. Perhaps cuts could be made elsewhere.

Or perhaps it’s time we fall back on Oklahoma’s Rainy Day Fund, which has almost $600 million in it, according to another article from NewsOK.com published last week.

If our current situation doesn’t qualify as a “Rainy Day,” we don’t know what does.