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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2022)
A new model of care STATE Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, January 5, 2022 Bend stabilization center seeks solid ground to help people in crisis By GARRETT ANDREWS The Bulletin Communities have long operated mental health crisis facilities, as well as residen- tial care facilities for people with serious mental illness. What sets the Deschutes County Stabilization Center apart is a room off the center’s multidisciplinary hub that most days buzzes with staff activity. The 23-hour obser- vation room, also known as a respite room, is quiet by design. Against one wall is a row of recliners that lie all the way back. On another, a bur- bling water feature. The space is intended for people in a state of mind where talking through their problems is unlikely to resolve them. They need appointments for a higher level of care, and often, their basic needs met. The recliners were inspired by a facility Harris toured in Kansas City, Missouri. That project featured reclin- ers and 23-hour observation, but didn’t accept walk-in cli- ents, which struck Harris as a major missed opportunity. The 23-hour requirement is important here, as facilities that allow longer stays are considered residential care FEEL THE SPEED, EVEN AT PEAK TIMES. DEAN GUERNSEY/Bend Bulletin The bullpen area in the Deschutes County Stabilization Center is active with workers helping peo- ple in crisis. facilities and thus are subject to diff erent regulations. At any given time, one or two people can be found in the respite area, under a blan- ket or eating a cup of noodles. Only about 22% of peo- ple who come to the center require this level of care. It may not seem like much, but money is tight in local gov- ernments and mental health crisis has not been prioritized as a need, Harris said. “Why don’t more com- munities have this?” Harris asked. “We can bill for some of the services we provide to generate revenue, but if someone is sleeping, there’s nothing we can bill for that.” Funding obstacles When the center opened at the height of the pandemic, it operated during business hours on weekdays. “Back then, you needed to have your crisis Monday through Friday, 8 to 5,” Har- ris said. “If you had it after hours, you were probably going to see law enforcement. That’s a pretty big gap.” A $2.4 million grant from the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission enabled the cen- ter to operate 24-7 starting in October 2020. But it’s only a 2-year grant, not a perma- nent fi x. Harris will go after the same money this May, but there’s only $10 million to go around the state, and nothing is guaranteed. If Deschutes County doesn’t get the grant, Har- ris said she needs to have answers about funding by the end of June . With the center’s uncertain fi nancial future, Deschutes County commissioners have been pressuring St. Charles Health System and the cit- ies of Redmond and Bend to pay in to help keep it open 24-7. The city of Bend paid $70,000 as an initial contri- bution, St. Charles and Red- mond did not contribute. Supporters at the county point to the fact Sheriff Shane Nelson has paid more than No annual contract. Power multiple devices at once— everyone can enjoy their own screen. Number of devices depends on screen size/resolution. Over 99% reliability. †† Excludes DSL. Based on network availability. 45 $ /mo * Contact your local DIRECTV dealer For 12 mos, plus taxes & equip.fee.$10/mo equip. fee applies. Limited availability in selectareas. *Price after $5/mo Autopay & Paperless bill discount (w/in 2 bills). IV Support Holdings 888-486-0359 Limited availability in select areas. May not be available inyour area. Call or goto att.com/internetto see if you qualify. $700,000 from the sheriff ’s offi ce to the project and has committed to pay $570,000 in fi scal year 2022. “When you talk about the national movement of real- locating funds from law enforcement this is a perfect example of that,” Harris said. COVID-19 protocols have limited the number of arrest- ees accused of low-level crimes permitted in the jail, which makes the stabiliza- tion center more important to deputies as an option to bring people in crisis, said sheriff ’s spokesman Jayson Janes. “It is most helpful for us on those calls where some- one is experiencing a mental health crisis but not commit- ting a crime … and the person needs to get out of that situa- tion,” Janes wrote to The Bul- letin. “We can take them to a safe environment and they can talk with mental health professionals to help them with their crisis.” Commissioner Phil Chang recently accompanied Harris and county behavioral health director Janice Garceau to St. Charles to lobby the health system to help fund stabiliza- tion center operations. “I think the city of Bend, the city of Redmond and St. Charles hospital all benefi t from the stabilization center to the point that fi nancial con- tribution would be justifi ed,” Chang told The Bulletin. “In the past it was very common for those people experienc- ing mental health challenges to be accompanied by police offi cers at the emergency department, sometimes for several hours. So having an alternative place for people experiencing mental health crises to go and an alternative place for law enforcement offi cers to take them frees up human resources, space and other resources to focus on other public safety and health needs.” Commissioner Patti Adair as well has been vocal about other partners funding the stabilization center, noting 63% of clients treated there reside in the city of Bend. Iman Simmons, chief operating offi cer for St. Charles Health System, said the system has had to focus limited resources on other pressing needs. “We are absolutely sup- portive of Deschutes Coun- ty’s eff orts to help bridge the gap in behavioral health ser- vices with the opening of a stabilization center,” Sim- mons said. “But we also acknowledge our region is lacking other kinds of critical services including residential and outpatient treatment pro- grams for our pediatric popu- lation, which is where we are planning to focus our atten- tion and resources.” A spokesperson for the city of Bend said the manage- ment and fi nance departments Behavioral health technician Dominique Gray turns on a water feature in the respite area at the Deschutes County Stabilization Center in Bend in December. are not considering ongoing funding of the stabilization center and provided language from the city’s 2000 contract: “The City’s role is one-time funding; it has no involve- ment in the operation of the Center.” In August, the Deschutes County Commission sent a letter to the Redmond City Council requesting a contri- bution of $250,000. There is not currently a plan to pay into the center, according to Redmond City Manager Keith Witcosky. “The stabilization center has provided a critical service to our police department, par- ticularly as we see an increase of calls for people in crisis,” Witcosky said. “The funding request will ultimately be a decision for our city council and will merit more dialogue with the county. If the county continues with the formal request, it will be a subject for our budget deliberations.” As of a year ago, Red- mond offi cials were planning to open an on-site mental health triage center — a proj- ect similar to the Bend sta- bilization center — at a new police station on the north side of town, currently in the planning phase. Rep. Jack Zika helped secure $3 million in funding for the project, which is not fi nalized and may change, Witcosky said. Another model Harris said if she had the staff and the funding, she’d put it toward a pilot program she’s developing to respond to mental health crises with- out police. It’s the same idea as Eugene’s infl uential CAHOOTS program, which dispatches a medic and a cri- sis worker — and not police — on crisis calls. The closest local off ering to CAHOOTS is the city and county’s co-re- sponder program, where a county mental health worker responds to crisis calls along- side a uniformed Bend police offi cer. STRUCTION, LL N O C C AW Featuring: Get strong, fast Wi-Fi to work and play throughout your home. ^ Based on wired connection to gateway. AT&T INTERNET 100 DEAN GUERNSEY/Bend Bulletin The Deschutes County Stabilization Center in Bend. INTERNET OFFER: Subj. to change and may be discontinued at any time. Price for Internet 100 for new residential customers & is after $5/mo. autopay & paperless bill discount. Pricing for first 12 months only. After 12 mos., then prevailing rate applies. 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So we took the best of what we saw across the country brought it back, vetted it and here we are.” Since the ribbon was cut in June 2020, the stabiliza- tion center is credited with diverting hundreds of people who would have ended up in a hospital involuntarily or in jail facing criminal charges. But now county offi cials fac- ing an uncertain fi nancial future are calling on others to help foot the bill, while oth- ers in the mental health fi eld are urging them to do more to keep people from ever reach- ing the stabilization center. CAHOOTS and the city of Eugene have been inundated with questions from local leaders around the country interested in starting similar programs, according to Chris Bouneff , director of the Ore- gon chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness. Bouneff cautioned local leaders to not rest on their laurels. “I always caution commu- nities, especially in our state, don’t overpromise, because if you overpromise, these things will underdeliver,” he said. “They are an import- ant feature of a full spectrum of services in a community. Don’t lose sight of the full spectrum. “It would be like building an emergency room to treat heart attacks, but not working on preventing people from developing heart disease, nor following up with their treat- ment after they leave.” Bouneff pointed to the example of Portland’s Unity Center for Behavioral Health, a 24-hour crisis response facility that was feted widely when it opened in 2017, but which he says has become overburdened as a result of a tremendous need it cannot alone address. “Unity is a good thing, but it’s one thing. Same with the center in Deschutes County,” Bouneff said. “You can’t lose sight of all the other things you need, because the whole goal ought to be to keep peo- ple out of that center and make sure people recuper- ate to full health after a stay there. If it’s the only resource available, it will lose its abil- ity to have an impact on the community.” Lately, it’s been Harris who’s asked to speak to local offi cials from around the country wrestling with the same issues — Connecticut, Alaska, Virginia, Arizona. She presented at the Crisis Intervention Team Interna- tional Conference in August, and at the time of her inter- view, she was preparing to address offi cials with the city of Berkeley, California. “We didn’t have a ton of money thrown at us, and we had a ton of obstacles thrown our way, but it can be done,” Harris said. “I think what we’ve shown is if we can do it, I’m 100% certain other communities can do it too.” With a year of 24-7 service, Harris thinks there’s now an expectation in the local men- tal health community. One fi gure in particular motivates her: 2% of the center’s clients report they would have carried out plans to kill themselves were the facility not available as an option. “It’s hard to quantify, but we know we’re improving people’s lives.” Offer ends 4/13/22. All offers require credit qualification, 24-month commitment with early termination fee and eAutoPay. Prices include Hopper Duo for qualifying customers. Hopper, Hopper w/Sling or Hopper 3 $5/mo. more. 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