Kevin Fixler
Colorado’s Office of Behavioral Health
announced this week that Frisco and Montrose will both receive funding
for new mental health facilities serving the Western Slope.
A senate bill signed into law by Gov. John
Hickenlooper in May set aside millions in marijuana tax dollars for
upgrades to Colorado’s mental health system and to help curtail the use
of jails to house those in crisis who have not been charged with a
crime. The
deficiency in rural facilities was specifically targeted in the bill,
which set aside nearly $2 million over two years to expand services.
All of that money was initially earmarked
for an eight-bed crisis-stabilization unit and its operation in
Montrose, but through maneuvering and negotiations Summit County will
now receive half that bankroll. By as early as next spring, Frisco’s
Medical Office Building will be the site of a four-to-six-bed walk-in
crisis unit, and Montrose will build a four-bed unit of its own at a
location already under construction.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Sarah
Vaine, assistant county manager in Summit. “There’s a broad continuum
of care and a lot of services needed. I don’t know that there’s a
community across the country that has every element of that continuum in
place, but any of the steps of care that we get here, the more the
better.”
"Those beds will absolutely go to good use, and then that'll just give us one more perspective on what's missing and how we can do better for our community."Sarah VaineAssistant county manager
Mind Springs Health already oversees a
detox and substance-abuse clinic in the same Frisco medical campus
building. However, the publicly funded mental health network held out
hope that it would receive funding for an additional crisis center.
Through persistence and some good fortune, that prospect now becomes a
reality.
But it still came very close to never
happening. It required what Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons
called “an eleventh-hour Hail Mary” to eventually cement the agreement.
The new law explicitly targets ending mental health holds in county jails. However, without appropriate alternatives, Summit experienced a sharp escalation of such incidents over the past three years.
To justify giving Summit half of the annual funding, the Office of
Behavioral Health asked FitzSimons to convince the other Western Slope
sheriffs of the hybrid plan.
“The sell was honestly our sheer numbers,”
FitzSimons said of the spike in the area’s behavioral-health lockups.
“And the sheriffs agreed we are on the eastern boundary of our region,
so we do have a long distance to travel for people with mental health
issues. Those things are undeniable.”
The crisis units offer a place for a
patient to take a time out and receive support during a mental health
episode, but not medication or other therapies provided at a psychiatric
hospital like West Springs in Grand Junction.
“It’s just one more piece,” said Vaine of
the crisis unit. “When you have so many gaps, it’s hard to know what is
the next step, but this money became available and it’s certainly going
to go to good use. Every bed that’s full is one person that’s gotten a
higher level (of care) that’s hopefully avoiding getting themselves into
any kind of self-harm or criminal situation.
“Those beds will absolutely go to good
use, and then that’ll just give us one more perspective on what’s
missing and how we can do better for our community,” she added. “The
county is very supportive of growing the continuum of care for
behavioral health in Summit County.”
The build out of under-used space at the
medical building, as well as retrofitting portions of the detox center,
become the next challenge this winter. The county believes meeting state
codes for crisis units will not be a large barrier to completing the
project, and Mind Springs can’t wait to begin providing services to
patients in the new specialty setting.
“I really believe that we will use this in
ways that we haven’t even considered yet to benefit this community,”
said Dr. Jules Rosen, chief medical officer for Mind Springs. “And it’s
going to have an impact, because … we see people in crisis and we’ve
been trying so hard to improve the options.
It’s a lot of work, but this
is just a real positive and I’m delighted.”
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