Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Homelessness And Behavioral Health topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mayor Donovan highlights Star Center treatment beds, county coordination and outreach team additions
Summary
Mayor Donovan described regional coordination with Skagit County and the Northstar group, the planned Star Center with 64 treatment beds, and the addition of a nurse practitioner to Mount Vernon’s iOS outreach team to provide in-field care.
Mayor Donovan said Mount Vernon is coordinating with Skagit County and regional partners to expand behavioral-health and substance-use treatment capacity, including a 64-bed Star Center, and has added medical staff to local outreach teams.
The mayor described Northstar — a coalition of mayors, county commissioners, public-health officials and other professionals — as a forum to pool resources and improve responses to people experiencing homelessness and substance-use crises.
Mayor Donovan said the Star Center will provide a total of 64 substance-use and behavioral-health treatment beds and that a facility like this can offer officers an alternative to transporting people in crisis to hospitals or jail. “A facility like this can mean that for our officers, we don't necessarily have to take someone in who is in crisis to the hospital or to the jail,” Mayor Donovan said.
He also said the city added a nurse practitioner to the integrated outreach services (iOS) team so team members can treat people in the field and reduce hospital transports. The mayor described the iOS model as social workers embedded with the police department to connect people to services and said the city led this approach in 2017 or 2018.
Mayor Donovan said Mount Vernon distributed about $2.5 million in recent months in state and federal funding to local agencies working on housing and shelter solutions; he described those as pass-through dollars to providers chosen to deliver services. He said the city coordinates with Burlington and other Skagit County cities to share case information and improve care continuity for people who move between jurisdictions.
The mayor emphasized that some people on the street are not there by choice and that treatment and shelter options are necessary alongside enforcement. He said the city will continue outreach and coordination with county partners as treatment capacity comes online.
