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Ex-detox center will serve clients with mental problems By Jonel Aleccia The rooms will be more private and the treatment more intense when Jackson County�s former long-term detoxification center reopens this fall as a respite site for people coping with mental health crises. County officials have come up with a plan that will divert qualified patients � and payments � from costly stays in Rogue Valley Medical Center�s 2 North psychiatric ward. Instead, they�ll receive shelter and treatment at the Front Street site that formerly housed long-term detox services. It�s a new use for a center that generated considerable controversy when it closed over budget constraints last spring, halting care to some 250 alcoholics and drug addicts each year. "I thought for several months about what we could do with that facility," said Hank Collins, director of county Health and Human Services. "It occurred to me that we see people who are released from 2 North with only drug and alcohol diagnoses, so we are using our very expensive psychiatric resources for people who only suffer from a chemical addiction." The new five-bed center will provide care to clients with dual diagnoses of mental health problems and substance abuse issues, Collins said. It will augment existing respite beds serving more than 90 mental health clients. And it will pay for itself through savings on the $450-a-day fee for beds in 2 North. "Oregon law requires that when anyone is placed on a psychiatric hold in Jackson County, the county has to pay the bill," Collins said. The county Mental Health department paid the bill to remodel the center to meet state standards for access, space and privacy. Officials are awaiting final state inspection of the facility and final county approval to hire the equivalent of 4.5 full-time staff members. Conveniently, clients will be housed in the same building as the county methadone program and other substance abuse services, says Ron Gardner, county Mental Health director. "The whole idea of crisis respite is that people get a safe place, with staff, to make a plan," he said. Starting in November, most clients will stay from one to five days at the center and gain access to intensive substance abuse intervention. It will be a valuable resource, says Deborah Lee, a member of the county�s urgent response team, which provides psychiatric assessments. "People will come to the emergency room psychotic or anxious as a result of drug use," she says. "What we�re hoping to do is to get them stable in the emergency room and then divert them to the new center." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA