The Des Moines County Board agreed this week to spend about $43,000 toward a Burlington-based crisis intervention center.
The County’s Central Point of Coordination Director Ken Hyndman told supervisors how the system works now, when someone is having a mental health emergency, and how it would work under the new system. Hyndman says this alternative…using five of the apartments at 910 Cottonwood Court…and partnering with Hope Haven and Henry County…will be a better, less expensive alternative than taking the person to a hospital emergency room…across the state to an empty bed, for in-patient treatment if needed…or finding them in jail, which often happens as well. The shared concept also fits with the state’s new regional approach to mental health care.
Hyndman reminded the supervisors that there will be close to $86,000 in startup costs…to be split between Des Moines and Henry Counties. He wants the new crisis intervention center at 910 Cottonwood Court to open in June.
