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���������� Note:�� The program highlighted in the article below is an excellent example of a collaboration that partners could replicate in DSRIP networks. The tiered service approach and mixed-use of staff with various credentials not only captures a wide range of individual’s needs, but provides an integrated setting where employees can work and learn together. The shared risk, and ability to transform existing capital infrastructure, is what makes this a particularly attractive option. Most importantly, not only do averted hospitalizations decrease hospital expenditures and meet DSRIP program goals, but diversions mitigate trauma and decrease community engagement and tenure.

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Front Door to Behavioral Health System

Benson News; Dana Cole, 9/2/2014

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Hailed as the “front door��to the behavioral health system,” a new residential drop-off center will soon be opening its doors in Benson, serving all of��Cochise County.

The Benson Desert Sunrise residential facility is part of a fully integrated medical and behavioral health care treatment center established in Bensonby Community Bridges, Inc. in partnership with Cenpatico. On Thursday, the medical community, law enforcement agencies, community leaders and residents from across Cochise County visited the 24/7 drop-off center for an open house, where they toured the property and learned about the range of services the behavioral health program brings to the��area.

“This facility is the front door to the behavioral health system,” Danise Leveille, Regional Director of Clinical Services for Community Bridges, stated during a presentation. “If anyone feels they need help with a mental health issue, they can come here and we will help��them.”

The facility’s open door, patient drop-off policy is applauded by law enforcement. There is about a two-minute turn-around from the time officers first arrive with a patient and hand the person over to medical staff until they leave the facility. Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, along with several deputies, attended the open��house.

“I think this is something very much needed in this community and the surrounding areas,” said Dannels. “It provides a place for people to come and weather a crisis and get their lives back with the professional resources they need to recover.” Dannels also mentioned Community Bridge’s willingness to showcase the facility. “I appreciate their transparency, allowing us to see the facility and talk about the services they’re providing. Currently, the Cochise County jail is where we take people with mental illness. To me, this facility is one of the most critical resources we could bring to this area,” Dannels said.

Benson City Manager William Stephens also attended the open house, along with Mayor Toney King and Councilman Jeff Cook. Like Dannels, he welcomes Desert Sunrise to the area. “The Community Bridges facility is a welcome and needed addition to our community,” said Stephens. “I was very impressed with the new facility, the staff members and their operating concept for offering easily accessible services to help those in need of developing coping skills and earnestly desiring help. I was happy to see a number of folks in our community show up for their opening tour and to welcome them as our new neighbor and community partner.”

Staffed with a team of medical professionals, Community Bridges takes a “recovery through whole health” approach to patient care. From the moment a patient steps in the door, the person is triaged through an integrated intake evaluation that examines the person’s medical and behavioral health. As part of the initial intake process, the patient meets with medical staff where a patient assessment is conducted, along with drug screens and blood-alcohol tests, Leveille said.

Desert Sunrise offers different levels of care within the facility, depending on the patient’s needs, determined through an in-depth assessment process. “We offer three different levels of service here,” said Melinda Vasquez of Cenpatico. ‘We have outpatient services, a brief intervention program and a more extensive residential program.” Discharge planning starts from the day the patient walks through the door, she��added.

At Desert Sunrise, the brief intervention side has nine beds and is where the patient stays while actual needs are determined by the medical team. Some are connected with a natural support system outside of the facility or referred to outpatient treatments. Patients that are part of the brief intervention program stay at the facility between one and six days. For patients needing more extensive treatment, Desert Sunrise has a 12 bed residential program where patients are transitioned from brief intervention to the residential side and housed for about 30 days. The residential program requires a patient referral with a Cenpatico��provider.

“Our residential program is for patients who require a high level of care,” said Leveille. The intake process includes a number of steps that integrate health and wellness, disease education, denial management, pain management (for those addicted to prescription pain medications), individual and group therapies and discharge planning, to name a few. Integration back into the community is part of the program as well, where arrangements are made for the patient to receive counseling and ongoing support through such organizations as alcoholics and narcotics��anonymous.

Community Bridges has a successful peer support program, where trained peer support specialists that have gone through their own behavioral health challenges become part of the program’s staff after extensive training. Candice Galleano, a 28-year-old recovering methamphetamine addict, is one of the peer-based employees. She goes into the community and works at establishing relationships with people she believes are in crisis and attempts to get them enrolled in services by building a rapport with them. “I pound the pavement everyday looking for people,” she said. “I go into the homeless camps and work at building trust with the people so they can get the help they need. It takes months to build that trust and develop a connection with some of the��people.”

Community Bridges President and��CEO, Dr. Frank Scarpati, says the peer support piece is a vital component of the program’s overall success. “The person in crisis relates to the outreach specialist and the personalization side of the process is incredible,” he said. “We have experienced tremendous success with our peer support and a large percentage of our employees are��peer-based.”

While Community Bridges is well known for its substance abuse programs, it has expanded its expertise to crisis management and behavioral health as a whole, said Vasquez. “Many times a person with a substance abuse problem is self medicating for a mental health issue, so we look at the whole person. Our goal is to help people be well on all��levels.”

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