Moscow and the surrounding community are getting a new mental health resource — a crisis center, the first in Northern Idaho.
Darrell Keim, director of the Latah Recovery Center, said there will be six resting mats for people seeking help.
Keim said crisis centers are a place for people who are not at risk of suicide, violence or experiencing a problem which would be better handled at the emergency room. There will be resting mats, a kitchen and a restroom, and the center is set to open in July after some staff training and construction, he said.
Rather than modeling off the other crisis centers in the state, which have one brick and mortar location that is fully staffed at all times, and have staff on duty at all times, it takes a ‘just in time’ manufacturing approach,” Keim said. “Send the professionals to the location when we know someone in crisis needs them.”
The center will be on Main Street where Wack-A-Doo Salon was previously.
“We are becoming a part of the Rural Crisis Center Network,” Keim said. “This group is pulling together the different relevant behavioral health professionals to provide crisis services in five different North Central Idaho communities.”
At crisis centers, Keim said community members seeking help can rest and learn about local resources for up to 23 hours and 59 minutes.
“It will be a physically safe and relaxing environment,” he said.
The center will be funded through the state of Idaho, and Keim said the state funds crisis centers as a means of saving money. Additionally, he said compared to hospitals, crisis centers cost less.
“Law requires anyone transported to the ER be accompanied by an officer while in the hospital,” Keim said. “This takes police and hospital time, resources and money.”
An estimated transport cost — of which the Moscow Police Department has conducted at least 317 since 2015 — is around $197,800, which is assuming the police officers stayed for 24 hours at roughly $26 an hour, Keim said.
“Chief Fry estimates that half of these transports would go to our facility instead of the ER,” Keim said. “Frequently his officers go into overtime pay during a hold-thus the above estimate is very low. We anticipate that some of this load will be moved over to us.”
In the future, Keim said they hope to expand into rural Latah county and veteran outreach.
Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kalinelson6