“We knew 15 years ago we needed a crisis center,” Melissa Kirkland, SpectraCare Health Systems CEO, said during a Tuesday press conference to announce the center’s location. “We needed a place where people could come at the right time and the right place when they were in crisis. Many times they call and doors are not open, and so they have nowhere to go and they end up in our jails and they end up in our emergency rooms.
People are also reading… The state appropriated $7 million designated strictly for the SpectraCare center’s operations. When it opens, the crisis center will employ 164 people, including physicians, certified nurse practitioners, nurses, licensed social workers, therapists, counselors, and administrators.
The search for a building for the crisis center in Houston County began as soon as the center was announced as did efforts to cover the cost. The purchase of the 34,000-square-foot Headland Avenue building is $1.75 million with another $650,000 in renovations to meet life and safety regulations for such a facility.