photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

This week, Douglas County leaders will get a look at the first data collected for a pair of new county initiatives linked to the local behavioral health system of care: the Douglas County Crisis Line and Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center’s mobile crisis response team.

A six-month data review for the two services is on the agenda for Wednesday’s Douglas County Commission meeting. Specifically, that review will include demographic, referral, response and disposition data from Sept. 1 of last year to the end of March.

The crisis line launched in July through Kansas Suicide Prevention Headquarters, concurrent with a national shift to the three-digit 988 dialing code that routes callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. And a few months later, in September, Bert Nash’s mobile response team was in action, responding to calls dispatched by 988 or local law enforcement agencies to help folks in crisis wherever they’re currently located.

Since it began operating last September, there have been approximately 82 mobile response team referrals facilitated by KSPHQ, according to the presentation. About 40% came from public safety referrals, and the rest were from referral sources like the Lawrence Community Shelter, schools and substance use agencies.

The presentation also includes some statistics about the mobile response team’s response times. Though the team’s average response time is just 12 minutes, its average length of encounter is nearly an hour and a half long. The vast majority of referrals — 86% of them — have been resolved in the community, according to the presentation, with the other 14% requiring a higher level of care.

One section of the presentation will touch on what comes next for the services. One significant change coming either later this month or in early May will be the implementation of 911 call diversion; according to the presentation, a memorandum of understanding between KSPHQ and the county’s Emergency Communications Center has been approved and training is in development. Leaders with the service anticipate that it will increase the number of mobile response team referrals by two to three times.

The mobile team already has implemented another change: expanding its hours of operation. As of the beginning of this week, the team’s hours are now 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week, with a transition to 24/7 service a target for sometime in June.

It’s unclear from the presentation whether it’s already been implemented or is upcoming, but another change on the list is incorporating new service delivery standards for public safety referrals, including a dedicated public safety line to contact the mobile team directly.

The presentation also notes that the mobile team is involved with ongoing collaborations with the Treatment and Recovery Center of Douglas County, another important tool in the county’s behavioral health crisis care landscape that just opened last week.

Operations at the facility, located at 1000 W. Second St., are only taking place out of the front-of-house urgent care unit for now. The other part of the facility, an observation and stabilization unit for patients who need to stay for 23 to 72 hours, is slated to open at partial capacity starting May 25. But once it does, the mobile team — plus others like first responders and law enforcement agencies — will be able to drop off patients in need of more intensive care.

In other business, the commission will:

• Consider approving a resolution to establish a minimum maintenance designation on a portion of North 1075 Road east of Clinton Lake.

The stretch of road up for consideration crosses two large streams that the county’s Public Works Department has determined aren’t suitable for residential use or emergency access. If the commission adopts the minimum maintenance designation, it would eliminate the potential for residential uses along the road segment and leave future development contingent on the construction of a county-maintained bridge to serve the area.

photo by: Google Maps

The starred box on this map indicates the rough stretch of N. 1075 Road east of Clinton Lake that the Douglas County Commission will consider approving for a minimum maintenance designation this week.

If the full maintenance designation remains in effect and adjacent landowners pursue residential uses, the county would likely be obligated to construct a bridge serving the area, according to information included with this week’s meeting agenda. Public Works is estimating it would cost $1.6 million to construct a bridge crossing the stream to the west or $700,000 to construct one on the east side.

Wednesday’s meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St. The meeting will also be available by Zoom. For meeting information, visit the county’s website: dgcoks.org/commissionmeetings.