Dr. Sachs had been advocating mental health care for a long time. In 1951 she had addressed the membership meeting on the subject of psychosomatic medicine. During the 1950s she, along with Drs. Charles Strother and Sandy MacColl, kept gently nudging Group Health Cooperative toward the idea of mental health coverage. But it was not until the 1960s and the election of John F. Kennedy as U.S. president (the Kennedy family had a special interest in mental health) that progress on this was made across the country and at Group Health.
On January 1, 1966, Group Health welcomed its first full-time psychiatrist, Dr. Jack Brown. Under the impetus of new federal employee health benefit mandates to provide mental health services, Dr. Brown set about designing a program for Group Health enrollees. Later that January, Dr. Sachs televised her mental health advocacy nationwide as a guest on Johnny Carson's popular "Tonight Show."
