Quicker response needed for those in crisis, transportation options lacking, providers say

Social service providers say individuals in mental health crisis or challenged by drug and alcohol abuse need better access to both mobile and on-site treatment.

“We have to ensure that the services for crisis support is easy and seamless for anyone in crisis,” Robert Hamilton, director of the county’s Department of Human Services, told more than 45 service providers gathered Monday at the Westmoreland County Community College near Youngwood.

The forum was part of the county’s multi-year study on how Westmoreland addresses struggling residents and what improvements need to be made.

“The feedback is more important than what the data can say. It can help create staffing patterns and where services are needed,” Kristen Ellis, a behavioral health therapist and senior principal consultant with RI International, the consulting firm conducting the study for the county.

The county’s human services department last year awarded RI a multi-year $360,000 contract to study its crisis network. The county had received a $380,000 grant from the state Department of Human Services to hire RI, a Phoenix-based company that offers crisis care and support services in nine states.

The county will review the report that RI expects to deliver in June or July and prepare it for distribution, Hamilton said. RI then will work with the county for the next two years in implementing the recommendations, he added.

“This grant is really looking at the whole continuum of care. The drug and alcohol will be part of this. The report will address the needs of how we can really coordinate services for the entire continuum,” said Sara Stenger, director of behavior health and an administrator for the human services department.

The study is being conducted as the county has been integrating the Area Agency on Aging, Behavior Health, Children’s Bureau, Veterans Department and Community Relations and Prevention under the Human Services umbrella for the past 18 months, Hamilton said. That initiative began as a result of a 2020 report on the county’s human service agencies.

One of the challenges in the current system is the time it takes for the mobile crisis team to respond, said Jessica Barsanti, a targeted case management mentor at Wesley Family Services in Greensburg. Her group provides behavioral health care and therapeutic support services to those in mental health crisis.

The county stretches some 55 miles from New Kensington on the Allegheny River south to Monessen on the Monongahela River and close to 40 miles from the Allegheny County border east to the Somerset County border.

“They’re not able to fill that need as quickly as we want it to be,” Barsanti said.

Families do not want to wait for hours in a hospital emergency room, waiting to be seen, when a person is in the midst of a crisis, said Hannah Mulkern, a social worker at Burrell School District.

When someone is having a substance abuse crisis, “time is of the essence,” said Tim Phillips, director of the county’s Department of Community Relations and Prevention.

“We lose people waiting to get a bed” at a facility where they can get treatment, Phillips said.

One way of getting help for people in crisis in a more timely fashion would be to create a shared hotline for those suffering from mental health problems or substance abuse issues, Hamilton said.

While urgent care centers for those facing a mental health crisis would help, Ellis said those facilities are expensive to operate.

Those suffering from substance abuse often have mental health issues as well, she added.

Treating mental health issues for people dealing with substance abuse is critical, Phillips said.

“It is not only helpful, but it can be lifesaving as well,” Phillips said.

To address transportation issues that can impact those seeking treatment, the county and school districts might be able to join forces to provide that for students, said Gregory Egnor, director of student services at Burrell.

In some cases, families can’t get a member to a treatment center. If EMTs arrive on the scene, they may not be able to take a person to a recommended facility if that is out of their service area, Egnor said.

It also is important, Ellis said, to have certified peer specialists to work with those in crisis, who can relate to them and treatment they may undergo.

“That lived story can be so powerful,” Ellis said.