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High Plains says crisis-intervention center near opening; asks counties to sustain operations
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Summary
A representative for High Plains told commissioners the new crisis-intervention center in Hays is expected to open May 4 and outlined diversion goals and an outreach initiative; the presenter also referenced a county-level funding request in their packet.
A representative for High Plains updated the Sherman County Board of Commissioners that a regional crisis-intervention center (CIC) in Hays is nearing construction completion and expected to open on May 4. The center will offer immediate psychiatric and therapeutic care, including sobering beds, and will provide secure transport when state hospitalization is required.
The presenter said the state has funded construction in part because of long wait lists at Larned State Hospital; facilities already operating in Lawrence and Newton showed diversion rates near 90%, meaning many screened individuals receive care at the center instead of being referred to a state hospital. The speaker said the project could achieve at least a 50% diversion rate and ideally approach model centers’ higher performance.
In the packet distributed to commissioners, High Plains included a formal funding request described during the presentation. The presenter read a figure from the packet as "formal request of 40,000 58352" for sustaining core mental-health services, and described a separate CIC operational-support figure read as "1114903"; those amounts were presented by the speaker as the product of a multi-factor calculation tied to population and services. The transcript recording of those numbers is unclear; the board did not vote on county funding at the meeting and no county-appropriation decision was made.
High Plains also described a new outreach initiative called "Be There," intended to reduce stigma and encourage early conversations about mental health. Corelli, identified as bilingual care coordinator in High Plains’ Prevention, Education and Outreach (PEO) department, said staff and volunteers will make daily presences in local communities during May for public education, and that the group will promote QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) suicide-prevention trainings with local partners.
Commissioners thanked the presenters for the update and indicated interest in touring the facility. No formal county funding action was taken during this meeting; the presentation was informational and High Plains offered to provide additional details and tours for commissioners.
