Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk announced the development of two new crisis centers in the area at a press conference at the Mental Health Care Center of Dane County Tuesday.
""We will now be able to make sure people experiencing mental health emergencies get the help they need without using hospital emergency rooms and costly institutions like Mendota,"" Falk said.
The two new 24-hour facilities, which will be located at the Tellurian Center and the Mental Health Care Center, will have a combined capacity of 20 patients who are at risk for psychiatric hospitalization.
William Greer, CEO of the Mental Health Center of Dane County, said the new centers will help lift pressure off hospital emergency rooms.
""Area emergency rooms are not set-up to serve persons experiencing an acute psychotic crisis,"" he said.
Falk said the recent suicide at Rutgers University and the following response shows how necessary mental-health facilities are.
""The recent tragic stories in the newspapers are really an indication of what goes on every day in communities across the country,"" she said.
Falk said she hopes to make Dane County an example for others to follow.
""One out of five of us at any given time have a mental health challenge,"" she said. ""We have built a mental health system here in Dane County that others in the nation come to see and learn from, and this is one more step in making this system the best we can possibly have.""
