More mental health services are coming to Washoe County
Members of the Washoe Board of County Commissioners and Reno City Council last week, during their regularly scheduled meetings, heard updates about mental health services available or soon to come to Truckee Meadows. These include an integrated crisis response system (CRS), the renovation of West Hills Hospital and a 24/7 crisis center.
Services build on existing behavioral health programs and efforts at the state, local law enforcement agencies and the state.
“When they get that 911 operator, the 911 operator will say something along the lines of, ‘Is this police, EMS or fire?'”
Washoe County Health Director Julia Ratti presented to both governing bodies about the county’s emergency response operations, which she said the area is working on. “long time.” The Board of County Commissioners in October 2023 identified behavioral health as one of their top priorities and tasked Ratti with working on an environmentally significant effort.
“The standard for crisis response in our current world is that if someone has a mental health problem, they’re going to call 911,” Ratti said. “When they get a 911 call, the 911 operator will say something along the lines of, ‘Is this police, health or fire?’ And we’re going to give the right response, which is usually not going to be a morally sound response.”
Ratti said if things go wrong, that person will end up in the emergency room or jail. “This is not a good behavioral health response,” he said. health for a person with a health problem.”
The process of bringing CRS to this region started in 2021 with the formation of two teams. One is the Partner Agency Group and is made up of current or prospective providers of behavioral crisis services. The second is called the Children’s Crisis Collaboration which works with children with behavioral health problems and their families.
Ratti says when it comes to CRS, the first priority is having someone to call when someone is in trouble. In July 2022, the 988 telephone number became operational nationwide.
“In our community, Crisis Support Services of Nevada, a small but powerful nonprofit, has been operating for decades,” Ratti said. They now pick up 988 calls and can call, text and chat with someone in a health crisis.
That’s the first step in turning people away from the EMS system, Ratti said, and he said he hopes the public will continue to be educated about the 988 system so that individuals can get the right services they need, and that they don’t overwhelm 911.
Ratti said that the 988 mobile phone bill started in June 2023 and brings in about 15 billion annually to support the nationwide disaster response. He said the funds will be used to improve management skills through data collection, sending and registering beds for patient care.
Ratti, speaking to the county commissioners, said the existing data can track call volume, but does not provide information about the types of calls, responses or results.
Telephone answering teams
The most challenging part of providing mental health resources, Ratti said, are crisis response teams on the phone, adding, “And they can have a big impact.” .”
An emergency response team will be used in the same way an ambulance would be dispatched to a car accident, a fire truck to a fire, or a police officer to a crime. None of them, however, are appropriate for someone with a mental health problem that doesn’t involve violent behavior.
What it means, Ratti said, is health care and the Medicaid system, which is a way to pay for health care for low-income people. Now there has been an amendment to the state Medicaid plan that has been passed which now creates a rate for the selected crisis groupsfront that this area will allow this area to expand its offerings.
“So this is the first step to finding a viable, sustainable business model where we can get a mobile phone crisis at some point in our community,” Ratti said.
For Washoe County, they will be seeing their emergency call team sooner than other counties. For more than a decade, the government has run a mobile crisis response team program, but their resources were limited and they had problems with vacancy rates, which recently reached 49% vacancy.
As part of the county’s partnership, the government has agreed to provide its budget to the county to support and operate the Children’s Crisis Response Team, which was officially spun off from the State Department of Child and Family Services to Washoe County Human Services in July. 2024.
“In the first few months, we’ve already doubled the number of calls we’ve been able to make,” Ratti said.
There are other non-profit organizations in the area that also have response teams and disaster centers that are developing, but more needs to be done to help those in need. of mental health.
Crisis Management Center
Another mental health system upgrade in the area is the new Renown Crisis Care Center, which is slated to open in early 2025 and will feature a warm, lounge-like environment for short-term care for adults. It will be open 24/7 and staffed by multiple medical professionals, according to Steve Shell, vice president of behavioral health at Renown Health.
There will be 25 beds and 10 short-term beds for people with behavioral health issues, Shell said. The center is housed on the Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services campus at 480 Galletti Way, in a part of the campus that has been vacant for the past decade.
After attending the facility, patients will be screened and referred to a psychiatric or detox facility, if necessary, given outpatient training or appointments, and will have access to accessing community resources such as case management, Cares Campus or other temporary housing options, if needed.
The main reason for creating the center is to provide somewhere other than emergency rooms and law enforcement agencies for people with mental health problems to go.
Shell said: “The ER is not the right place for people in crisis, and the jail is not the right place. He said the facility will allow for a proper de-escalation process done after ‘a program similar to the one in Phoenix, Arizona, where law enforcement officers can return to their duties within minutes of taking down a person in distress.
Most importantly, the center will be staffed by medical staff, social workers and individuals who have lived with mental health or substance abuse problems.
Washington Behavioral Health Center
Since the closure of West Hills Hospital, there has been a significant gap in services for people who need inpatient behavioral therapy. Now, the former West Hills site has been transformed into the Washoe Behavioral Health Center, which is slated to become “an important asset to address the health needs of the neighborhood.”
Washoe County awarded $4.5 million in ARPA funds to purchase the vacant facility, and received an additional $14.5 million for its renovation.
The center is due to open around July 2026, with half of the building dedicated to youth services and the other to adult services. The facility is slated to include a youth mental health facility, a crisis stabilization center and a respite center for families in need of care. Plans also include a special center for young victims of sex trafficking and a treatment program for adults.
“This will be a valuable asset to our community once it’s built,” Ratti said.
Mayor Hillary Schieve said it’s been a decade, and said she’s grateful for the progress in creating a 24-hour response system.
“Soon, we will have a fully functional system,” he said.
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