Medford, Ore — The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Southern Oregon is proposing a new center to offer mental health services around the clock.
“Adequate services haven’t existed in Jackson County for a very long time,” said NAMI spokesperson Pam Ames.
NAMI – the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Southern Oregon has a brand new proposal for a 24-7 psychiatric center in Jackson County.
“We see this as an alternative to jailing people who are arrested while they are in psychosis,” said Ames.
NAMI recently came out against a new jail proposal by Jackson County Sheriff Nathan Sickler.
While the County can’t speak to the proposal until it’s presented to them, Commissioner Bob Strosser says care is available,to an extent.
“We have a 24-7 mental health crisis unit that responds to things, the issue is once people are stabilized the responsibility then shifts to the CCOs and the time lag for the people that may badly need it is what’s at issue,” said Strosser. A CCO is a Community Care Organization.
NAMI’s stance is that whatever services are provided by the jail, won’t fill the need.
“The treatment offered in a jail context is not efficient and not long lasting so we want to offer services outside the jail context when possible,” said Ames.
They hope the County, and the state will step up to find a solution to an ongoing problem.
The proposal for a new psychiatric crisis center is in the very beginning stages.
The hope is a facility like this would be more accessible than what’s currently available.
NAMI plans to speak to county commissioners about the idea, at the next public hearing on February 26th in Medford.
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