County council poised for key vote on $6.1 million mental-health crisis center
News TribuneAug 27, 2018
That would be fine -- but Dammeier wants all the votes, not just a simple majority. The stabilization center, a signature project, would underline his efforts to address the county's continuing behavioral health crisis.
"It's a very good deal for the county," Dammeier said last week during a meeting with
The
The 16-bed facility would aim to serve people facing immediate crises due to mental illness or substance-abuse issues or a combination. Staffed by mental-health professionals, it would mirror a similar facility in
Location was a key factor in the planning process. The center would be built at
Conveniently, the county's
Also, the
"As more and more crisis cases are occurring in the
While the facility will be secure, locked and fenced, and won't allow walk-ins, the location next to the school might raise safety concerns among residents. Dammeier has met with former Franklin Pierce School District superintendent
County Councilman
"I'm comfortable in what takes place there not being any kind of impact on the students," he said.
While those leaders are giving their backing to the project, Dammeier must contend with County Councilwoman
Roach and Councilman
To back her point, Roach gathered information about a similar facility in
"I think in general there has not been a great attempt to get the facts," she said. "The decisions have been made before the questions have been answered."
Roach also questions whether the facility would help people with chronic substance-abuse problems, since no patient brought to the facility can stay longer than 48 hours.
"How could you help someone in 48 hours?" she asked. "The answer is you cannot. That is impossible."
Roach wonders why the county couldn't take advantage of existing empty space at its jail and convert it into a stabilization center rather than building something new from the ground up.
Councilman
"Someone who is acting out, we can't leave them in public because it's become a problem, or they're a danger to themselves or others," he said. "We need a place to transport them that's not the jail and not the emergency room, so we can get them out of crisis, stabilized and then hopefully transition them into longer-term services, get them into treatment, whatever.
"We can then start working on those issues. That's kind of the idea here. It's not to quote, unquote 'cure' them. It's to get them on the path to recovery."
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