Melanie Flax Wilt, Clark County commissioner, said the center will significantly help multiple agencies and shows that the county is serious about addressing mental health and addiction in the community.
“This may be the single most important thing that I have worked on in six years” as a commissioner, Flax Wilt said.
Who will the facility help?
The facility, which will be located at the former Mercy Health - Springfield Heart House at 1911 E. High St., will have separate areas for men and women and will be available 24/7.
It will provide urgent assistance for those in need with providers who are qualified to treat both mental illness and substance use disorder, McKinley Hall CEO Wendy Doolittle said.
Doolittle said the facility can serve as a “stepdown for patients leaving the psychiatric hospital.” She said it will also be helpful for individuals who refuse hospitalization after being treated with Narcan for an overdose, which is common.
The urgent care aims to reduce the strain on organizations “that are not designed to cater to this population,” including the Clark County Jail and emergency rooms, Doolittle said in a release. It will also be a place for individuals to refer their loved ones who need crisis stabilization.
Mercy Health - Springfield CEO Adam Groshans said the hospital has seen a wealth of substance abuse and addiction patients, and it will be helpful to have a center geared toward these cases.
“We actually do better supporting agencies like McKinley Hall, like the Mental Health Recovery Board and those organizations that exist in our community specifically for those functions,” Groshans said.
While the hospital has worked for several years to restrict and reduce opioid use in the emergency room, the center will serve as a place to refer patients who are addicted to these and other substances.
Those addicted to substances will have immediate care available, no longer having to wait until a bed opens up at a rehabilitation center, Flax Wilt said.
“What I think is the most amazing part is the urgent care aspect, so [if] somebody comes in and says to their mom, their friend: ‘I’ve had enough; I’m addicted. I need help,’ they don’t have to wait for months to get that help,” Flax Wilt said. They’re going to be able to go to the mental health urgent care. They’re going to get stabilized at the time that they recognize that they’re ready for help instead of months later when they might be farther down the rabbit hole.”
How many people will the center help?
Clark County’s deaths by suicide ranked among the highest in Ohio, with the age-adjusted rate being 20.1 deaths by suicide per 100,000 people from 2016 to 2020, compared to 13.8 per 100,000 statewide.
Although the majority of suicide deaths that occurred in Clark and Champaign counties in 2021 and 2020 occurred among adults older than 30, the state saw an increase in suicide deaths among people aged 10-24.
The announcement of the new facility comes after the formation of a mental health mobile crisis team, which works with the Springfield Fire Rescue Division and Springfield Police Division to respond to calls in which a person is experiencing a mental health crisis. Currently, EMS Lt. Felix Stranahan and Katie Miller, a mental health crisis worker, are responding to a majority of the calls with a possible mental health component.
In 2019, there were 53 overdose deaths in Clark County, according to data from the Clark County Combined Health District. This decreased to 52 in 2020 and increased to 79 in 2021.
As of April 22 of this year, the Springfield Fire Rescue Division treated 77 overdose patients and administered 162 doses of Narcan. For all of 2022, the department treated 232 total overdose patients, giving 501 total Narcan doses.
Flax Wilt said the project is a significant investment in mental health treatment in the region, and she hopes it can be leveraged for additional opioid settlement funds to continue helping the community.
“Any measures taken to prevent or intervene when someone is on the verge of losing control will undoubtedly bring immense benefits to the individual, our community and the systems supporting it,” Doolittle said in a release.
A collaborative effort
The new facility will be a collaborative community effort, with Flax Wilt, Doolittle, Groshans, Mental Health and Recovery Board of Clark, Greene and Madison Counties CEO Greta Mayer, Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck, New Carlisle City Manager Randy Bridge, Springfield Fire Rescue Division Assistant Fire Chief Matthew Smith, Clark County Sheriff Deb Burchett, Bethel Twp. Trustee Nancy Brown, Clark County Assistant Prosecutor Beau Thompson and Clark County Health Commissioner Charles Patterson of the Clark County OneOhio Committee involved in approving the allocation of funds from the opioid settlement for the project.
“I think that this is creative and incredibly important for many aspects of our community,” Flax Wilt said.
Groshans said the OneOhio Committee discussed how ARPA dollars could be used to address substance abuse, and it was decided that the urgent care was a great fit, addressing addiction as well as mental illness.
The county OneOhio Committee was formed to discuss distribution of funds from a large settlement with drug manufacturers and distributors for the area. The state group is split into county groups to make sure every area in Ohio that has been affected by the opioid crisis receives aid.
Mercy Health is selling the property for $250,000, though it is worth much more, Groshans said. He said it had been unused since the hospital moved its operation elsewhere, and it was determined to be an “ideal location” for the facility.
Renovations on the facility are expected to begin later this year.
Groshans said the hospital looked at the sale as something that would benefit the community both by being used for mental health and substance abuse treatment and by about two-thirds of the money from the sale being allocated for enhanced instruments and equipment for the hospital’s heart and vascular program.
“The beauty is that that remains here in Clark County,” Groshans said.
The project shows how passionate numerous groups are about helping the community as a whole, Groshans said.
“It’s a really exciting example of strong community between a number of agencies, like Mercy, like Commissioner (Flax) Wilt, like McKinley Hall, and those others like the Mental Health Recovery Board that serve on that committee that are constantly advocating for our community and constantly seeking out creative ways to work together to address the betterment of our overall community,” Groshans said.
About the Author