June 10, 2021 at 1:12 p.m.
Commissioners call for behavioral health state funding
Michelle Piprude, Cass Health, Human and Veterans Services director, said the goal would be to see the state provide group homes and adult foster care for people with behavioral mental health issues.
Currently, she said, people end up in jails and other facilities, which are unprepared to deal with people who have mental health issues. In crisis situations, people get referred to the state hospital at Anoka when there are beds open.
That costs the county about $1,000 to $1,800 per day. Because there are not enough facilities to which people can be referred, they remain longer in the higher cost program at Anoka, making it inefficient use of taxpayer dollars, Piprude said.
The concept is that once evaluated at the Anoka hospital, the person would be referred to a group home or foster home.
Because there are not enough of those available, Piprude said, people remain at Anoka longer than they should and bring unnecessarily high costs to their counties.
She said she would like to see regional centers approved for Brainerd and Bemidji to serve Cass County residents from both the north and the south ends of Cass.
Minnesota needs both regional crisis program facilities and permanent supportive housing for these clients, Piprude said.
In other HHVS business Tuesday, the county board approved three 2018 mental health service contracts with service providers.
Nystrom and Associates will provide home-based mental health services/in-home counseling at $72.50 per hour.
Stellher Human Services will provide up to $25,000 in family-based crisis, counseling, life management skills and mental health services.
Pat Coretese, Ph.D., will provide case management supervision/consultation and children's services at $125 per hour for six hours each month.
The board approved an agreement between the county and Minnesota Department of Human Services under which the state will pay the county attorney up to $11,845 this year and up to $12,200 in 2019, and the sheriff up to $5,120 this year and up to $5,244 in 2019, to provide legal services and enforcement services for child support collections.
Second publication rights after Brainerd Dispatch.[[In-content Ad]]
Comments:
You must login to comment.