The National Alliance on Mental Illness is standing up for the rights of the mentally handicapped and asking WakeMed to do their part.

NAMI, including Ann Akland who has a mentally ill daughter, rallied at a WakeMed hearing Friday that proposed an expansion to their facility. The group says the hospital should use those resources instead to serve Medicaid patients with mental illness.

"Only a community or med surge hospital can accept Federal payments from Medicaid," Akland said.

And Wakemed is one of those hospitals where mental patients can use Medicaid. But Akland said as of now, they don't offer beds to mentally ill patients and the group rallied for a change.

"They have women's center, children's center...they have practically a castle on their campus but they don't have psych beds," Akland said.

Amy Blackwell with WakeMed said they do serve patients on a limited basis.

"We have a behavioral serves emergency department, we have counselors and three psychiatrist," Blackwell said.

But long term care patients must go to other county hospitals that provide this type of care.

"You have to look at the history. Wake County has had Dorothea Dix for years so we had beds here and others county didn't," Blackwell said.

But now that Dorothea Dix facility is gone, many of these patients are going to other facilities involuntarily and they are escorted by law enforcement. Patient Kent Goddard said this causes other problems.

"I got into a police cruiser and there was a cage separating the front and back seat I had to scrunch my head in," Goddard said.

Akland said this is a big concern.

"These people are handcuffed and shackled and they are already at their lowest point," Akland said.

NAMI members said WakeMed should make the needs of mental patients a priority. The hospital says they don't see these changes in the future but they say they will do everything they can to support these patients needs.