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Bowen Health outlines expansion, mental health services and dental plans; county officials raise hold-bed question
Summary
Bowen Health presented a year-end review and told commissioners it plans dental clinics in Plymouth and Bremen, discussed inpatient and transitional living losses, and raised collaboration possibilities with the sheriff’s office on evaluation/hold beds.
Bowen Health leaders on Aug. 4 gave the Marshall County Board of Commissioners an annual report describing service growth in the region, plans to open dental clinics and ongoing community mental health work funded in part by county support.
Mark Roller, executive director of Bowen Health, said Bowen serves roughly 3,500 Marshall County patients with about 56,000 services and is expanding its footprint: a temporary site in Bremen and planned dental services in Plymouth and other regional locations. Bowen noted that dental construction funding is in the fiscal-year budget and that construction could begin later this year in a shelled “gray space” at the Plymouth clinic site.
Roller described Bowen Health as both a federally qualified health center (FQHC) and a community mental health center (CMHC). He said Bowen operates services that run at a net loss — including an inpatient hospital (operating at a reported $3.7 million loss) and transitional living group homes (reported $1.5 million loss across the portfolio) — but that sliding-fee discounts and charity-care write-offs for Marshall County patients totaled roughly $106,000 for inpatient care, $200,000 for Russell House residents and $181,000 in clinic charity care. Roller thanked the county for funding support intended to sustain the CMHC continuum of care.
Commissioners and Bowen officials discussed local operational needs. Sheriff’s Office and county officials raised the lack of a local evaluation/hold bed for people taken into custody for mental-health evaluation; Bowen said it is exploring options and scheduled follow-up meetings with inpatient partners and the sheriff’s office. Bowen said staffing and partnerships with schools, transitional living providers and peer recovery programs are central to their local strategy. Bowen also said a dental clinic project is included in its current fiscal-year budget and that dental rollout will begin first in another county and then come to Plymouth later in the year.
Bowen speakers at the meeting included Mark Roller, executive director, and Zach Cook, director of community engagement. Commissioners asked Bowen to coordinate with law enforcement and the courts on hold-bed needs and juvenile issues; Roller said Bowen is meeting with inpatient hospital staff and is preparing for additional discussions with sheriff’s representatives.
No formal county action was taken at the presentation; commissioners received the report and discussed possible collaboration points.
