GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Starting in late 2022, behavioral crisis care in Grand Rapids will be getting a much-needed dedicated space. A new Behavioral Health Crisis Center will open on the St. Mary's campus in Grand Rapids, allowing more specialized care for people in crisis.
"Really their only initial stop at this time is the emergency room," said Dr. Matt Biersack, president of Mercy Health St. Mary's. "The ER is not the ideal place to treat a behavioral health crisis."
Currently, Biersack says anyone dealing with a behavioral health crisis regardless of its nature has very few options aside from calling the police or heading directly to the emergency room. The new center will be a dedicated space, separate from emergency medical services, allowing more targeted and effective care.
"I think what they can expect is access to services that are currently not available in the community," he said.
"This will be a place that anyone can walk in," said William Ward, executive director of Network180. "We’re not going to ask for their insurance card at the door."
Network180 will run the center in partnership with Mercy Health. They call it a "private-public" partnership. Medicaid recipients will have all services provided at the center covered, and even for private insurance patients, staying in the BHCC costs a fraction of an ER or hospital stay.
In contrast to traditional medical services, the first person a patient comes into contact with at the new BHCC will be a welcome specialist. They're trained in crisis management and behavioral health, and it's their job to quickly determine the next step in care.
Whether it's a stay at an offsite inpatient facility for more in-depth treatment, spending up to three days in the BHCC — a secured facility — or finding a way to quickly deescalate the crisis and send the person home, the center will offer better tailored options than jail, hospitalization or turning someone away.
For law enforcement or first responders, the center will allow for more efficient calls as well. A behavioral crisis call could take hours if someone needs to be processed into a jail or if an officer needs to stay with a patient at the ER.
For the time it takes from first contact and checking a patient in, Ward says the goal is no more than six minutes. That would allow an officer to go back to their patrol far faster.
An opening date has not yet been set for the crisis center, but Mercy Health says it should be up and running in late 2022. It will be open 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.
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