Forsyth County is a step closer to having a new 24-hour mental health care option. Centerpoint Human Services voted last week to buy land on Ivy Street for a new treatment center.
Centerpoint's board of directors agreed to spend $176,000 for the plots located near where Samaritan Ministries is opening a new homeless shelter and within a few blocks of the Downtown Health Plaza. Centerpoint's medical director, Doctor Chad Stephens, said that the location in within an area with the largest documented needs for behavioral health services. Stephens believes the center will be an excellent option for people who need care, but not the higher level of care and cost of a hospital emergency room. He projected the average crisis stay at less than three days.
According to the Winston Salem Journal, the land offers a potential for a 20,000-square-foot facility. Half of the building would be dedicated to a crisis center and the other half to a triage center. It would feature inpatient and residential psychiatric care with up to 16 beds.
North Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services said that last year there were about 150,000 emergency department visits in North Carolina attributed to a behavioral health crisis. Many people with behavioral health issues wind up in emergency rooms because they either lack health insurance or can't afford a doctor.
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