New mental health facility called "gold standard"

April 13--Although construction already started, local officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday at the site of what will be a 24-hour mental health and addiction urgent care and crisis center.

The Caldwell C3 Comprehensive Care Center will be an expansion of RHA Health Services' current outpatient facility on Morganton Boulevard. The center will streamline mental health care in the area to efficiently serve Caldwell, McDowell, and Alexander counties, said Rachel Leonard-Spencer, the marketing and communications coordinator for Smoky Mountain MCO, a managed-care organization that oversees public mental health services for 23 counties in western North Carolina.

"For urgent care, they can just walk in 24 hours a day, and the outpatient services are walk-in too," she said.

It will also include 12 beds for people "who need to stay at the center while receiving treatment for a mental health crisis or who need to detox from alcohol or drugs," Leonard-Spencer said. "It's truly a community project that will benefit all of Caldwell County and help local residents get quality treatment without having to drive far distances."

The outpatient center already provides mental health and substance use assessments, counseling, and medication management for children and adults.

Mike Labrose said that after he was elected to the Caldwell County Board of Commissioners he rode with a Caldwell County Sheriff's Office deputy for a shift and saw firsthand the need for effective mental health services.

"Sometime after 1 o'clock in the morning, there was a call for a young lady who was in distress and wanted to commit suicide," LaBrose said, and a representative from RHA came out and handled the call. "RHA was able to give that young lady the help that she needed. And that's what it's all about folks, it's that we saved a life that night."

In cases where someone having a mental health crisis must be taken to a hospital emergency room, LaBrose said, a deputy must stay with the person 24 hours a day until the person can get a formal assessment and either be released or taken to a mental health facility.

Once the new crisis center is built, such patients will be taken there instead of the emergency room.

"The savings to law enforcement alone will allow us to place more deputies into the communities," LaBrose said.

Crystal Farrow of the state's Crisis Solutions Initiative said the crisis center is a model that is "a gold standard across the state."

"This is actually not even about the building," Farrow said. "It's an environment where people in crisis are met with safety and support."

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