The Buffalo News (Jul 26, 2022) — BestSelf Behavioral Health has landed millions in state funding to develop an intensive crisis stabilization center in Buffalo – part of a comprehensive crisis response system New York is forming.
The center, and others like it around the state, are geared toward helping any person experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, aiming to divert them away from unnecessary emergency room visits. The 24/7 centers will provide evaluation, care and treatment.
“This is a new program type that’s coming to our community,” BestSelf President and CEO Elizabeth Woike-Ganga said. “This is probably the only time that this opportunity will come along. So I think we just felt at BestSelf that we’re really well placed to start up and support a community-based program like this, based on all the other work that we’ve been doing in the community for so long.”
The state called for proposals for the intensive centers in late January and announced the winners July 19. The state did not disclose how many applicants there were in the five-county Western New York region.
The funds
BestSelf will get state funding of $8.7 million over five years. Here’s how that breaks down:
• In the first year, tentatively slated to start in January, BestSelf is in line for $1.67 million in startup funds, along with $1.4 million in operational funding.
• Operational funding also will be $1.4 million annually in years two through five.
On top of that, BestSelf says early estimates indicate Medicaid reimbursements will be about $2.7 million annually.
That will further grow BestSelf’s annual operating budget of around $100 million.
Related to the intensive center award, BestSelf will be eligible to apply for $1 million in capital funding to get its building ready.
The location
BestSelf will develop the intensive crisis stabilization center at an existing location: 430 Niagara St. in Buffalo, across from a Tops store and a couple blocks from the I-190.
The target opening date for the intensive center is January, though it will depend on several factors, such as what renovations are needed for the building.
“We’re looking at, ‘Are we going to add space or, kind of, how are we going to make that work?’ ” Woike-Ganga said. “Space-wise, we started looking at that already. We will have to do some alterations to the space.”
She also anticipates some of that location’s programs may have to be moved around as they prepare for the rollout.
Hiring
BestSelf has grown its organization to more than 1,300 employees, and that will soon increase.
With the state award for the intensive center, Woike-Ganga said BestSelf expects to add 43 new positions, including physicians, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, mental health counselors and substance abuse counselors.
That won’t be easy. The behavioral health sector is facing hiring challenges, but Woike-Ganga anticipates that prospective employees will be interested in the “exciting and really needed project.”
“We do anticipate that there’ll be a lot of interest from the community in the project, and also folks wanting to come on board and do this kind of work,” she said.
How it will work
The center, which will work in concert with other parts of the crisis response system New York is developing, will be for anyone who is experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis.
“We’ll triage them and assess what’s going on,” Woike-Ganga said. “Is it a situation where someone needs to talk to a counselor or peer? Is it something where someone has maybe run out of medications and needs a refill? Or is it, for example, a substance use disorder issue where they need medication-assisted treatment for an opioid use issue?”
The center will have the capacity to administer medication. Its professionals also will assess whether a patient is an immediate danger to themselves or others, in which case they would be taken to a psychiatric emergency department.
The overall goal is to make sure a patient is treated in the appropriate setting, fitting into a larger health care trend.
view full story at: https://buffalonews.com
