JFAC unanimously backs funding for second crisis center, this one for northern Idaho
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has voted unanimously in favor of funding a second community mental health crisis center next year, after a move by Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood, to slice that funding out of the Department of Health & Welfare’s mental health services budget drew only two votes, those of Nuxoll and Sen. Steven Thayn, R-Emmett.
Rep. Luke Malek, R-Coeur d’Alene, and Sen. Dan Schmidt, D-Moscow, pushed for the funding; last year, Gov. Butch Otter proposed three centers in Idaho Falls, Coeur d’Alene and Boise, but only one was funded. It opened in Idaho Falls several months ago. “I really think we need one, and my hope is to have one in North Idaho, but I also think we need to be prudent and wait and see how this all works and get the bugs out of the system first,” Nuxoll said. “We only have information on that from about two and a half months.”
Schmidt said, “I appreciate that going slow and paying attention to the response for crisis centers is appropriate for the state, but in the original motion, to me what we’re doing here is also creating a bit of ability to compare different community functions, and Idaho Falls has set theirs up in a certain way. The plan to do this in a different community, in a way that fits their community, will I believe allow us to compare and see if these centers actually will serve the community need in an appropriate fashion.”
Rep. Phylis King, D-Boise, said she’d just had a discussion with Dr. Ted Epperly about the issue downstairs in the Capitol. “It is preventative care,” she said. “It keeps people out of the emergency rooms and jails. It’s a prudent expense now, so that we really save a lot on inmates and emergency rooms later.”
The budget motion that passed matches Gov. Butch Otter’s recommendation to add a second crisis center next year, to be built either in Region 1 or Region 2, North Idaho or North-Central Idaho. Malek said, “Last year, North Idaho demonstrated the greatest need and had the highest total score in the RFI process, however they were not selected. As a result, this motion will provide the needed behavioral health services for the northern part of the state.”
The centers are designed to provide an alternative to incarceration and hospitalization for people undergoing mental health crises; they serve patients for up to 24 hours. Communities are asked to come up with local funding to help support the centers, along with the state money.
Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, said, “Law enforcement and hospitals and medical providers can document quite clearly the costs to each of their agencies, and the human cost of not being able to take care of people in crisis in appropriate settings. … Many times folks that are in crisis, because of the lack of facilities are, especially in the very far north, are held in jail cells or in a hospital room, shackled to a bed. Some of the expenses we may not see here, but they are there. And our communities have spoken very loudly across the state for the need for this type of effort, and I think that it’s very clear that we’re ready for another one.”
