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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 1978)
With unique emergency unit iMMM County jail to institute mental help Second in a series on the Lane County jail system. By KEN HASWELL Of the Emerald In 1975 there was no 24-hour emergency mental health com munity service. Today, the Lane County facility boasts such a pro gram, for those committed in voluntarily. The Mental Health Emergency Unit, unique to the state, is ex pected to open in the new county jail in mid-March. The unit is unique because it is built in the jail and will not be staf fed by corrections personnel but by Lane County Mental Health personnel. The unit will provide emergency treatment for both voluntary and involuntary com mitments as well as for alcohol de toxification. The unit was first suggested in 1975 when county corrections re quested Lane County Mental Health to find some way to care for individuals who were jailed for their own protection. Program Manager Lester Gag non says some police officers ar rested people for non-criminal of fenses, such as emotional distur bances that threatened the indi vidual and possibly others. He says the police knew the facilities were unable to handle individuals with alcoholic or emotional prob lems. but felt a responsibility to protect the individual. An 8-by-10-foot cell was not the place for these people Gagnon says. Corrections, stuck with the non-criminal offenders, ap proached mental health asking for counselors who could also help jail inmates and who could con duct psychological evaluations for the county court system. Gagnon says the unit will pro vide services the present jail can not. such as mental health treat ment to inmates suffering from the duress of incarceration (being jailed). Also, he says, the unit will save transportation costs to the Oregon State Hospital in Salem for court ordered psychological evaiua Arab students to demonstrate Members of the Organization of Arab Students in the U S and Canada will travel to Portland this morning to demonstrate against what they call "the Zionist Israeli ideology that advocates and prac tices racial discrimination against non-Jewish people and forcefully evicted Palestinians from their homes. ” The group will show the film Re volution Until Victory at noon Thursday and co-sponsor a discussion-forum with the Iranian student union Thursday at 7 p.m. m the EMU, room to be posted. Forum representatives will dis cuss the historical background on Zionism and the Camp David a greement between Pres. Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian Pres. Anwar Sadat. Sharif Muhammad of the Arab student organization says the forum is pert of a week of activities that will call attention to "policies of the expansionist colonial state of Israel and the Camp David a greement, which denies the in alienable rights of the Palestinian people for total liberation and the establishment of a Democratic secular state in Palestine for all religions.” tions. He adds that people have to wait in jail until the OSH has room for them to undergo a 30-day evaluation before trial. The unit will allow immediate evaluations thus relieving the county court system of its backlog. The unit's alcohol detoxification center will provide treatment rather than providing a night in the drunk tank as was done in the past. After a person's initial crisis (in non-criminal cases) the person will be referred to a physician or to some community organization such as Whitebird for further treatment. Gagnon says community oriented programs seem to help people more than does sending them to larger institutions. The unit housed on the ground floor of the new jail, consists of 16 patient rooms and four isolation rooms, two of which will be pad ded. The unit will also have a room for group interviews and a day room for the inmates. Gagnon says inmates with mental distur bances will recover faster if they are not confined to a cell ail day Upon showing stability, the inmate will be allowed to use the day room, which will have TV and cardtables. The unit was built for about $700,000 and will cost approxi mately $500,000 a year to oper ate. Gagnon says the unit will be required by law to charge inmates for its services, which wiH help pay for the support needs (heat, laun dry and food from the jail) received from the county He says that in the case of in mates who cannot afford to pay, the county will pay half of the bill and the state will pay the other half. “By law we (the county) are re quired to provide service, and we win make every attempt possible to recover — to bring in to the county — as many dollars as pos sible to cover those costs,' Gag non says. PIONEER SX-680 STEREO RECEIVER $228 ||o*«« y 0 o 0 o«o 0 ’ Reg. $275 Thompson’s has always had a reputation for quality electronics. What we want people to know, however,'is that we also have superb values! So now through December 20th, our prices are better than ever! If you’re serious about quality electronics. . .and saving a lot of money, come by and browse our entire selection. You’ll be surprised at the real quality your money can buy! 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