By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Unison Health in Bowling Green officially opened an urgent care for mental health services on Monday at the South Main Street office.
Katie Frank, Unison’s director of Wood County services, announced the opening at Monday’s meeting of the Wood County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board.
The opening will be a slow rollout to start, in part because of staffing limitations and the fact they had to determine what mental health urgent care services should look like since there are few examples or guidelines nationwide.
“We’ve done a lot of work on what the service should look like, but there’s not really much information available on how to run an (mental health) urgent care,” Frank said. To start, the urgent care will be available on Mondays from 1 to 4 p.m. at 1084 S. Main St.
An in-person provider will be available to work with adults experiencing any urgent mental health issue. They will help determine if a crisis assessment is needed, make referrals and coordinate care, such as follow-up appointments.
Not all individuals who seek the service will be ready to move forward, but the agency will work with them wherever they are, Frank said
“There are so many different levels of crisis teams across the country; we are lucky in Wood County to have providers and crisis services for our residents,” she said.
Ongoing efforts to rehome apartment fire victims
Dustin Watkins, CEO of Harbor, reported that 12 of the 17 individuals displaced in the June 12 apartment fire are in alternative long-term housing, three are in family housing and two are in short-term tentative housing arrangement while the agency looks for long-term alternatives.
“We are working with the HUD, because everything has to go back through them,” he said. Any money received from insurance goes back to HUD.
Harbor is planning to rebuild the same number of units in the same location, Watkins said. He estimated it would be one-and-a-half to two years before that becomes a reality. He thanked the ADAMHS Board for its support in the short-term and long-term as they work through the process.
When asked if any information about the state opioid and stimulant response funding has been provided by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Director of Finance Julie Launstein said nothing has been finalized yet. “They are supposedly working diligently to get the information out on what they’re funding,” but no timeline has been announced,” she said.
In other business:
- Dr. Imran Ali, a physician whose work includes mental health and addiction consulting, was introduced as a new member of the county board.
- The board approved an agreement with the Cocoon to provide the match for the federal Victims of Crime Acts (VOCA) grant and additional funds up to $210,000. The funds are provided through the local levy, Launstein said.
