Oaklawn is getting closer to starting up mental health crisis centers in both St. Joseph and Elkhart counties with developments this week on both fronts.
In South Bend, Oaklawn held a ceremony on Tuesday announcing its behavioral crisis center in St. Joseph County will open in five months. Construction has begun on the center located at Memorial Hospital’s Epworth center on North Niles Avenue.
Oaklawn leaders have said the center plans to have a little over a dozen beds, or reclining chairs, where people suffering acute mental-health or drug related emergencies can go or be taken by law enforcement as an alternative to jail. St. Joseph County Sheriff Bill Redman and South Bend Mayor James Mueller were on hand to offer their support for the project, which has seen many twists and turns in its funding after St. Joseph County Republicans earlier this year voted to withhold a previously promised $2.6 million and instead gave only $600,000.
Oaklawn has its sights set on a similar facility in Elkhart County at its Goshen campus. This week, theElkhart Truth reported that the Elkhart City Council approved nearly $300,000 from the city’s share of opioid settlement money.
That $300,000 goes along with nearly $4 million in state grants to build the Elkhart County center, which Oaklawn CEO Laurie Nafizger said should be completed in 2024.
In addition to the behavioral crisis centers, Oaklawn hopes to have mobile crisis teams operating in both counties which can respond in-person to help people undergoing acute mental health issues. A team in St. Joseph County currently operates from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, but Nafziger hopes both counties can have teams operating around the clock.
