Measure B-funded facilities open
b'May 4, 2022 \\u2014 Two Measure B-funded facilities opened last week. The Regional Behavioral Health Training Center on East Road in Redwood Valley opened on Tuesday, after being remodeled. Some pieces of equipment, like a media cabinet for hybrid meetings, a virtual reality training program, and gun lockers, are expected to arrive soon.\\nThe Critical Residential Treatment Center on Orchard Street in Ukiah is now fully licensed and opened last Monday, serving three clients.\\nThe facility has eight beds that will be available for 30 to 90 days by adults who are in a mental health crisis but have not received a 5150, the designation that would lead to an involuntary 72-hour hold. Sarah Livingston, the crisis program director for Redwood Community Services, which is operating the CRT, said the facility fits smoothly with respite care. She said the facility will include peer support, case managers and rehab specialists, many of whom come from the RCS Madrone House, which is a respite center. \\u201cA respite house is set up to be immediate respite for someone who is just on the other side of a 5150,\\u201d she explained. \\u201cAnd so that\\u2019s been used for immediate stabilization, ideally for up to seven days. The CRT is where we take it one step significantly further. That 30, 60, 90-day model where we\\u2019re doing significant psycho education and other programming and allowing people to really get back on their feet as they stabilize.\\u201d Livingston said clients will be encouraged to take part in daily life outside the facility. \\u201cI think there\\u2019s this misunderstanding by quite a bit of the community, where they thought it was a locked facility,\\u201d she noted. \\u201cIt is not a locked facility. Ultimately we want people to choose to be there, and they do have 24/7 support.\\u201d Livingston added that there will also be therapists available, though not always on site. \\u201cWe can get folks into a pretty quick psychiatric appointment,\\u201d she added. She expects the facility to be fully staffed in another thirty days. \\u201cAnd I am certain we will fill those eight beds very, very quickly,\\u201d she predicted.\\nOnce it is fully staffed, RCS plans to contract with Lake County to offer a bed to one of its crisis patients. The CRT was designed and built by architecture firm Nacht and Lewis for $2.6 million, a combination of Measure B funds and a $500,000 grant from the California Health Facilities Financing Authority.\\n\\nThe training center in Redwood Valley, formerly the location of the Jehovah\\u2019s Witness Church, was the first facility purchased with Measure B funds. The purchase price was $389,000, a third of which was covered by the sheriff\\u2019s office. A small building and a garage have been dedicated as a sheriff\\u2019s substation. \\nSheriff Matt Kendall said he is waiting for the floor and drywall to be repaired after water damage caused by a broken pipe. But when he is able to use the building, he\\u2019d like to use it as a terminal for a dual response team with a deputy and a mental health specialist.\\nDr. Jenine Miller, head of the county\\u2019s Behavioral Health Department, was on hand for the ribbon-cutting and a tour. She expects that the new training center will allow county departments to send more staff to more trainings nearby, rather than sending a limited number of people to be trained outside the county. As far as how sustainable the center will be, Miller said, \\u201cthis really is the first year to look at how does the facility sustain itself, how much are we getting from the trainings versus how much are the costs to maintain the facility.\\u201d She plans to work with the General Services Department to present a plan to the Board of Supervisors, detailing the ultimate yearly costs of all the county\\u2019s Measure B-funded facilities, including the CRT and the Psychiatric Health Facility, which the Board decided to build at 131 Whitmore Lane in Ukiah.\\nRetired Sheriff Tom Allman, an original Measure B Committee member who remains the sheriff\\u2019s representative on the committee, said he hopes a $100,000 piece of virtual reality training equipment, paid for by the state, will be available by the end of June. He is looking forward to using the venue for trainings that he hopes will raise the standard of local law enforcement officers.\\nThe Measure B sales tax will drop from a half-cent to an eighth-cent next year. \\u201cThat money can be used for training and improved mental health services,\\u201d Allman said. \\u201cBut there will still be costs to the departments.\\u201d One of the three-day trainings cost $12,000, but Allman said, \\u201cWe want to spend that money. So we can have the best-trained first responders out on the street.\\u201d'