Officials: Geography, population justify crisis center

Editor’s note: This is the second part in a multi-part story on mental health options in the region.

COEUR d’ALENE —For 1st District Judge John T. Mitchell, geography and population justify a Mental Health Crisis Center in North Idaho.

There’s also no question, Mitchell said, that this area is struggling to cope with a mental health crisis of epidemic proportions.

While Idaho has the sixth-highest suicide rate in the country, North Idaho’s is the highest in the state, with 25 out of 100,000 people taking their own lives each year.

Mitchell was one of many widespread supporters who wrote letters in an effort to convince decision makers that Coeur d’Alene should be home to the state’s first mental health crisis center.

The judge has presided over the county’s Mental Health Court for 10 years and, for more than two years, has presided over a Juvenile Mental Health Court.

In his letter to the Department of Health and Welfare, Mitchell said his experience has made him “painfully aware” of the “deplorable current state of access to and delivery of

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mental health care here in my native North Idaho.”

The lone provider of acute psychiatric care for the 235,000 residents of Idaho’s five northern counties, Mitchell said, has 22 beds available.

“A crisis center would save dollars and resources for counties,” Mitchell said. “Law enforcement would have another option rather than the hospital emergency room to assist with individuals in crisis.”

All of North Idaho’s law enforcement agencies wrote letters in support of the center. Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler, who serves on the Region 1 Mental Health Board and on the Behavioral Health Board, is the liaison between local law enforcement and other agencies when it comes to mental health issues.

“The mental health problems, because they’ve not been funded by the state, have been put on the backs of law enforcement,” Wheeler said.

Haug said the problem becomes more pronounced as the area’s population grows.

“It’s not uncommon for us to have repeat visits to people’s houses,” Post Falls Police Chief Scot said. “We’re just doing triage. We’re getting there and putting a band-aid on the problem. They’re in and out of Kootenai Health in a short amount of time. In my opinion, they’re not getting the treatment they need.”

Politics

When Otter said Idaho Falls was chosen because of “community and legislative support,” those from North Idaho who had wholeheartedly lobbied for a center in Coeur d’Alene knew this area lacked only one of those.

Several legislators from Kootenai County voted against the bill funding mental health crisis centers. The county also cast more votes for Otter’s opponent in the May primary election.

“We find it interesting that somehow or other, only the area of the state that voted for Otter is what got (the crisis center),” said Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, who voted against the funding. “It’s difficult for me to say what is driven by politics and what isn’t these days.”

Otter’s office has not returned calls from the Hagadone News Network. The newspaper chain has submitted public records requests seeking documents and correspondence related to the location decision.

According to Idaho’s Department of Health and Welfare, the department made the decision.

“The committee scored the proposals (from the communities) and came up with a determination and then we worked with the committee and the governor’s office to make a final decision for where the center would go,” said spokeswoman Niki Forbing-Orr.

Forbing-Orr said she didn’t know the exact scores, but that they were close.

“I don’t know which one came out on top,” she said.

She said the department is hoping data and information from the Idaho Falls center will be used to guide decisions about future centers.

“We would all very much like to see these in every community that needs one,” she said. “The need is there throughout the state.”

Malek said the earliest Coeur d’Alene could secure funding for its own mental health crisis center would be after the next legislative session.

Barbieri is confident it will happen — against his hopes and wishes.

“Now that this bureaucracy is created, the north will get a facility; it will come,” he said. Barbieri said North Idaho law enforcement and others don’t need to “panic or specifically worry.”

“Law enforcement will get what they need,” he said. “If it turns out that there’s as dire a need here as opposed to somewhere else in the state, they’ll get it. ... Of course, with a bureaucrat, they all need it right away.”

Barbieri said he believes there is already plenty of help available without the crisis centers and that instead of “post-issued, post-adult treatment,” the root of the problem should be addressed.

“This explosion is all due to the way the culture treats people who are not conforming to the system,” he said. “We’re not dealing with the causes, we’re dealing with the more expensive outlying of treatment.”

On their own

The five northern counties tried a couple of years ago to create a regional mental health center on their own.

“I have a $35,000 line item in my budget to help pay the cost for that center,” Wheeler said. “We were trying to go out and get a grant which has not been fulfilled.”

When the Legislature approved funding for the mental health crisis centers, Wheeler said hopes were high.

“We’ve been looking for answers to this problem and we were hoping this center was going to be it,” Wheeler said.

More than two years ago, the Post Falls Police Department took measures of its own — in lieu of treatment — to help people who had threatened suicide.

“Every customer who calls who has threatened suicide, we go out and pay them a visit,” Haug said. “Our chaplains go out and try to give them some resources, faith-based or otherwise, to let them know there’s hope. We have not had anyone commit suicide after we’ve had that intervention.”

Haug said there’s no one fix-all for the area’s mental health concerns and it’s not a problem everyone empathizes with or understands.

“It’s not a sexy thing to talk about,” Haug said. “When you’ve been through it or you have family who has been through it you realize how real it is and how serious of a problem it is and how it needs to be addressed.”