Pawnee Mental Health celebrates crisis stabilization center's completion
The Manhattan MercuryOct 20, 2019
Sloan's son, Alex, died 11 years ago at the age of 32; Alex, Sloan said, committed suicide.
"It's amazing the hopelessness that people find themselves in, whether it be a family member, a friend or a co-worker, and having the ability -- or not having the ability -- for some place to go when you have somebody in need," said Sloan, CEO of
Sloan, whose company completed the project, was among
Pawnee staff and others cut the red ribbon to symbolize the opening of the center at at
The center officially opens its doors
The center will assist non-violent adults who come to the facility on their own will. People suffering from mental health problems can opt to visit the center, which will be open 24 hours a day, instead of going to a hospital or emergency room.
"There's so many people that need to have crisis services," Sloan said. "And as I stated in my comments before, my son passed away from suicide, and at that point in time, we had no place to turn. We knew we had an issue, and we had no place to go. And so my wife and I are just thrilled at the opportunity to have this available."
"This is really positive for individuals and families that live in this catchment area," Howard said.
State Rep.
"People shouldn't have to be in a car to go from
Pawnee serves people in 10 surrounding counties, including
"We're really so excited to be able to bring this out to the community and the service area, and to be able to help those people get the right care, the right place, the right time, that they need," Johnson said. "We know that makes a huge difference."
The project started when several community members got together to address the need for mental health services, said
Nineteen months ago, Pawnee sent a grant proposal to
Four months later, the facility signed a contract and received
"I am not being humble, I am simply stating the facts when I say there is simply no way
Construction of phase one began in
Cole said the state of
"And again, this is yet another statement of the state's commitment to this project," Cole said.
Cole said crisis stabilization centers in the state will soon get revenue from "lottery vending machine dollars."
"Those dollars haven't started flowing yet," she said.
In addition, the
Cole said Architect One completed the design plans, and
"We're so grateful to them for the work that they did in helping bringing us to fruition," Cole said.
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