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Pawnee Mental Health representative briefs Geary County on grants, primary-care integration and mobile crisis activity
Summary
A Pawnee Mental Health representative told the Geary County Board of County Commissioners that the agency supports the Association of Community Mental Health Centers in Kansas’ 2025 policy agenda, won a two-year federal grant to integrate primary care into behavioral-health services and reported about 60 mobile-crisis responses originating from Junction City in 2024.
A representative for Pawnee Mental Health updated the Geary County commissioners on statewide advocacy, workforce needs, a new federally funded primary-care integration grant and local mobile-crisis activity.
The presenter said Pawnee is a member of the Association of Community Mental Health Centers in Kansas and supports the association’s public-policy agenda for 2025, which focuses on stabilizing community mental-health systems and addressing gaps for uninsured or underinsured clients. "About 20% of the active clients we have now are either uninsured or underinsured," the presenter said, and emphasized that Pawnee writes off significant uncompensated care annually.
The representative described the Kansas Behavioral Health Center of Excellence—established by statute in recent years and funded in 2024—as a statewide effort that includes CMHCs and that Pawnee supports the center’s workforce development and training goals. The presenter said Pawnee has seen strong local demand for training such as Mental Health First Aid and that the agency is investing in career pathways and recruitment to address workforce shortages.
On service integration, the presenter said Pawnee received a two‑year federally funded grant to promote primary-care integration with behavioral health. The grant will begin regionally in Pawnee’s Claflin office and is intended to add primary-care staff, a patient portal and chart integration so clients who prefer outside primary-care providers can still have coordinated records. The presenter described the grant as $450,000 per year for two years.
The speaker also reported mobile-crisis response activity that originated in Junction City: Pawnee began regional mobile-crisis operations in early 2024 and responded to roughly 60 mobile-crisis calls during 2024. The presenter said teams were repositioned to serve the 10-county service area and that Pawnee has hired Amanda Yenzer as director of crisis services.
The presenter invited commissioners to advocacy efforts in Topeka (ACMHCK Advocacy Day on Feb. 11) and mentioned a local fund‑raiser, Pancakes for Bonnie, on March 4.
Ending: Pawnee staff said the integration grant and crisis-service hires are intended to improve continuity of care and workforce capacity across the region; commissioners did not take action on the presentation but heard the update.
