‘Care before crisis’: County unveils plans for $210M behavioral health Midway campus

A rendering of the behavioral medical campus in the Midway District Image courtesy of San Diego County San Diego County leaders unveiled plans Tuesday for a proposed million behavioral fitness campus in the Midway District aimed at preventing patients from winding up in an exigency room or living on the street According to Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer s office the proposed Behavioral Fitness Wellness Campus will serve as the region s Care Before Problem hub ' and replace fragmented emergency-driven responses with a connected continuum of cure that reduces ER overuse prevents homelessness and improves residents safety During a Tuesday news conference in front of the county Psychiatric Hospital and the old Rosecrans Physical condition Services Complex on Rosecrans Street Lawson-Remer noted the campus will be a place where people can find care stability and dignity under one roof Standing next to a rendering of the facility Lawson-Remer disclosed the goal is to have a place that ensures nobody has to start over After securing the needed dollars the county will work with locality partners to make sure the campus becomes a reality Lawson-Remer stated For too long the physical condition care system sought people to fend for themselves commented Lawson-Remer board chair A new facility she added is merely the right and moral thing to do In a comment Tuesday afternoon Lawson-Remer commented the whole-person care campus in one location will be a model for other counties in California and could serve more than San Diegans annually including veterans working-age adults and those adults in the judicial system The new campus would feature five state-of-the-art facilities that will reflect what we can achieve when we all work together disclosed Nadia Privara Brahms acting director of county Behavioral Medical Services Brahms announced the campus would include a dilemma stabilization unit a secured mental soundness rehabilitation center a social rehabilitation facility offering intensive short-term and peer-based promotion for those ready to be discharged a substance abuse center with lodging and an out-patient clinic She added the campus would endorsement people receiving recovery under state policies such as Senate Bill which expands the definition of gravely disabled in terms of who can be involuntarily held in facilities and receive remedy and the Neighborhood Assistance Recovery and Empowerment Act which focuses on people with untreated serious mental illness Other features would include medication beds and vocational opportunities Brahms stated The Board of Supervisors voted Oct to apply to the state for a million grant to build the Wellness Campus with county money paying for the remaining facility costs Lawson-Remer reported Lawson-Remer explained City News Arrangement that if the state grant doesn t come through I would never say that something like this would be at the end of its possibilities because one door closed But I would say I could not tell you right now what plan B would be if we don t get the grant Dr Steve Koh a UC San Diego psychiatrist disclosed during the Tuesday news conference that the proposed Wellness Center would represent an evolutionary process When someone suffering a mental wellbeing situation is stabilized in an exigency room that person may not reach an after-care facility revealed Koh who serves as an associate chief therapeutic officer for the county Behavioral Wellness Department Koh added the new campus is going to try and fix that County resident Anita Fisher whose son has lived with a serious mental medical illness and experienced substance abuse disorder disclosed she was happy to speak for families like ours whose loved ones fall between the cracks Those transitioning out of situation care who are seriously mentally ill can end up homeless in jail or abusing drugs instead of receiving the help they need explained Fisher who retired from the National Alliance on Mental Illness San Diego and supporters in related sessions She noted that her son had been in the Rosecrans facility on a great number of occasions and with multiple referrals Fisher added she was hopeful that the campus will come to fruition to help not only her son but multiple families throughout the county