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Duncan salutes MHA’s half-century

Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006

County Executive Douglas M. Duncan said people tell him it took great courage to announce his mental illness in June.

He scoffed at that idea. What took courage, he said Tuesday, was to admit he had a problem that needed help.

Duncan (D) helped to kick off the Mental Health Association’s 50th anniversary at a news conference inside the County Executive Office Building in Rockville.

Duncan was hailed for his interest in the community’s mental health needs long before he revealed he suffered from clinical depression and was leaving the Maryland governor’s race.

Sharon Friedman, executive director of the Mental Health Association of Montgomery County, said that during the sniper attacks in October 2002, Duncan worried about how the unnerving series of shootings was affecting residents.

When he was introduced, the audience gave Duncan a standing ovation.

‘‘You’re just doing that because I’m on my way out,” Duncan quipped.

Duncan undergoes hip replacement surgery today because of arthritis.