AAC
“Sometimes when he gets in trouble, he’ll meet with me and say this is what is going on; what should I do?” she said. “I feel like we’ve probably kept him from reoffending by the bond we’ve developed with him.” Te CSU receives patients from six counties: Sebastian
Crawford, Franklin, Polk, Scott and Logan. Because EMTs and officers find it a challenge to travel to rural
areas of the counties to retrieve or assess a patient, Holwick hopes to launch a pilot program that will include a mobile response team comprised of a crisis intervention trained officer and a men-
Pulaski County
Te Pulaski County CSU has admitted more than 470 pa- tients since it opened in July 2018 and has managed to stay within budget, which is a success, according to Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde. “I’m very proud to have gotten this project off the ground,” he said. “We need to try to keep it moving forward and main- tain our momentum.” Te University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)sup- plies the CSU with a multi-disciplinary team of nurses, social workers, prescribers and psychiatric technicians around the clock. Tey work in partnerships with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s
Department and local emergency management technicians to care for patients from Pulaski, Perry, Saline, Lonoke, Jefferson and Grant counties. “Tis is a great example of a community partnership,” CSU
Director Lisa Evans, assistant professor at the UAMS Department of Psychiatry, said at the CSU’s ribbon cutting ceremony last July. “It’s so exciting to be a part of this, to nurture this unit and watch it grow as we learn how to better serve this population.” Te CSU’s overarching mission is to place people arrested for nonviolent offenses who are experiencing mental health crises in a safe place where they can receive pro- fessional care they cannot receive in a jail. Most jails and emergency rooms are not equipped to do this, Hyde said. “We know that there’s a large population out
there that needs these services and we know for a fact that many of these folks end up repeat- edly in the emergency rooms or repeatedly in the county jail,” Hyde said. “Tese two places they are not getting the services they need; they run up bills and take up space, which are tre- mendous burdens on the system.” Because patients cannot be admitted to the CSU without a law enforcement officer trained in crisis intervention procedures, Hyde says the officers have taken the initiative to assess po- tential patients before they are put in jail. Tis
COUNTY LINES, SPRING 2019
helps the transition from officer to the CSU be more fluid. “I know the sheriff’s department is working with everyone
well and even doing some screenings at the intake level at the jail when they recognize that someone should maybe not be coming to the jail, but coming to the CSU,” Hyde said. Hyde has hopes the CSU will continue to expand its influ- ence in communities.
“I hope to see a 5 to 10 percent growth each month going
forward for the next four to five months,” Hyde said. “Once we’ve hit that one-year mark and we’re consistently at capac- ity, then hopefully we can see at least a 2 to 4 percent growth each month.” Hyde added that he wants to take in more people, but he wants to make sure it’s “done the right way.” “We want to make sure that our officers and staff at the CSU continue to work safely, that they do very thorough jobs, effec- tive jobs in evaluating the clients, and continue building that reputation so our officers can trust them and our patients can trust them and we put them in the right position to be able to be successful.”
COVER STORY
tal health professional. Te team will use Skype-like technology to connect from re- mote locations with professionals at the CSU to assess whether a patient needs to be brought in. “Our goal is to be able to benefit those in far out counties such as Mena in Polk County,” Holwick said. She applauds Sebastian County Judge David Hudson for sup-
porting all those involved in operating in the CSU. “Judge Hudson has been such a great partner,” Holwick said. “He keeps people in the forefront and supports our ef- forts. It’s been a really good partnership.”
Entrance of the Pulaski County Crisis Stabilization Unit. 27
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