• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

New Mental Health Center Proposed Omaha Civic Leaders Offer to Raise Funds, but Concerns Are Raised Over the Effect on Community Care.

Posted on: Tuesday, 5 April 2005, 21:00 CDT

A group of Omaha community leaders has offered to raise $15 million to $20 million to build a mental health facility in Omaha, a state official says.

The community resource center would offer evaluation and patient services as well as 42 treatment beds, said Dr. Richard Raymond, the state's chief medical officer.

It also would provide education and research opportunities for mental health professionals and students in health care professions. And it would provide a base for consultations over a "telehealth" network expected to link sites across the state.

Now the state is trying to get support for the plan from Region 6 Behavioral Healthcare, which serves Cass, Dodge, Douglas, Sarpy and Washington Counties. Region 6 officials, however, say they have concerns about how the center would affect efforts to change mental health care.

Raymond and State Sen. Jim Jensen of Omaha presented the concept recently to the region's board, made up of a representative from each county board.

Raymond, Jensen and officials from the state's two medical schools say they are concerned that the funding may go elsewhere if action isn't taken. They declined to identify the potential fund- raisers. No site or building design has been determined.

"I don't want these people to turn their backs and say, 'We tried but there was no interest,'" Jensen said.

Region 6 officials say they are concerned that the center would relocate existing services rather than create new ones and would build an institution as the state is shifting mental health services from hospital-based care to community-based services.

Mary Ann Borgeson, chairwoman of the Region 6 board, said area providers also are nervous that funds intended for mental health care changes would be used to operate the center rather than for communitybased services. The region, she said, needs more details about what services would be offered by the facility and what they would cost.

The idea of an Omaha mental health center is not a new one. A center that would combine education, research and clinical services was described in a document the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University presented in December 2003.

Then-Gov. Mike Johanns had asked the universities what role they could play in mental health changes, which later was launched with the passage of Legislative Bill 1083.

An earlier proposal for the center called for 95 beds and was deemed too costly, Raymond said. By last fall, discussions had stalemated.

Jensen said the civic leaders called in December. A small group then started to develop the current concept.

The proposed center, he said, would address local needs for a place where police or family members could take people in crisis, relieving pressure on emergency rooms. Medical treatment also would be available.

The center also would help the state address a shortage of mental health professionals, Jensen said. A committee created to oversee the mental health changes, which he heads, has adopted two resolutions calling for a center.

Jensen said he doesn't see the proposed center running counter to LB 1083. Communitybased providers would be asked to help put it together.

Jensen helped push the bill, working with Johanns. The measure called for closing inpatient services at the Norfolk and Hastings Regional Centers to free up money to expand community care.

"Until it's developed, we won't have a full continuum and system of care in the State of Nebraska," he said.

Dr. John Gollan, dean of UNMC's College of Medicine, said the center would allow multidisciplinary teams of mental health professionals to train together as they will work together under the revised system.

Dr. Dan Wilson, chairman of psychiatry at the Creighton University Medical Center, said the closing of several mental health facilities in recent years has left the area short of places for mental health professionals to train.

Jensen said a center also could help the state receive new sources of mental health funding, including research dollars.

"I think Nebraska could once again be a leader in mental health," he said.

Borgeson said that neither she nor the region necessarily is against the proposed center. But no business plans or operating costs have been laid out. The region doesn't want to see the funds intended for changing the system to pay for beds in the center or for training. She said she isn't convinced that the state can provide the funds to cover the beds in the facility.

Source: Omaha World - Herald

More News in this Category