Pawnee Mental Health Services celebrated the completion of its new Crisis Stabilization Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday afternoon.
The ceremony occurred six months after an initial wall-breaking ceremony and included a word or two from Robbin Cole, the exective director for PMHS; Laura Howard, the secretary for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services; Wayne Sloan, CEO for BHS Construction and PMHS Foundation Board member; and Bruce Johnson, the manager for the Crisis Stabilization Center.
With the opening of this facility, this area of Kansas now has a service not often available outside of urban areas.
“There are some other centers similar to this that have been implemented in the state, but more in larger urban areas,” Howard said. “So to have this resource for a multi-county area up here at Pawnee is just a tremendous resource for the state.”
PMHS’s new six-bedroom facility will provide out-patient services for up to 11 patients at a time and while it can’t take in everyone, provides a 24/7 alternative to people who otherwise may have previously ended up in a hospital or jail for treatment.
“We are going to be able to serve a lot of people who might have been in the custody of police who didn’t need to be in the custody of police or who might have been in the emergency room who didn’t need to be in the emergency room,” Robbin Cole said.
The facility also provides treatment for people who either can’t afford health insurance or whose insurance won’t cover the entire cost of treatment.
The center will officially open its doors to patients on Nov. 4th, but staff members will begin working and training in the weeks prior.
PMHS funding has come from several sources, some of which are:
KDADS has provided two grants for PMHS: one for $725,000 funding the construction of the facility and another for $700,000 that will help fund services.
The Goldstein Foundation is matching donations up to $200,000 in $25,000 increments.
Money spent on lottery-vending machines, which also provide support for similar efforts around the state, will be part of the funding mechanism.
PMHS encourages anyone interested in making a donation to contact them directly.
