By Lynn Janes
Dr. Teresa ArizagaOn September 27, 2023, Dr. Teresa Arizaga, chief mental health officer HMS (Hidalgo Medical Services), held a meeting to talk about the services available in the area for behavioral health and what the community will be doing to improve the services. This took place at the Grant County Memorial Business and Conference Center.
Dr.Stacey CoxDr. Stacey Cox, Center for Health Innovation-Public Health Institute welcomed everyone. Dr. Dan Otero, chief executive officer, Hidalgo Medical Services (HMS) said they all had to work together. “Tonight, is about community and working effectively together. Our community has become inpatient with the health care system.” They have seen an increase in many problems.
Lt. Gov. Howie MoralesLieutenant Governor Howie Morales said he sees many of the same issues across the state. “I see we are blessed to have wonderful health care options.” Some the programs started here have been used around the state. Everyone has different roles in the solutions. “This is an opportunity to have the discussions for those solutions.”
Dr. Wayne LIndstromArizaga introduced Dr. Wayne Lindstrom and said he had extensive experience in behavioral health and gave some his credentials and accomplishments. HMS has been working with him to put together a mobile crisis team. He has done similar projects across the country.
Lindstrom said the typical response to a health care crisis generally goes two ways: incarceration or emergency care. This exacerbates the problem many times. In every county the biggest part of the budget has been the jail. He had visited our detention center and said it had been more progressive than most. “They have the empathy to do what is right. That is not always the case in other jails.” The community needs some intensive community programs that can fill in the gaps. Tu Casa will be repurposed, but it won’t be the silver bullet. “
He also talked about the fact that not many people are aware of being able to call 988. Currently it will read the phone number called from. However, many have phone numbers not from the area they reside in, so they get the wrong call center. They have been looking for the remedy to this such as GPS. The state also needs real time bed availability. Every medical provider needs to be part of updating that daily.
Mobile crisis teams will be another important component. “You will have challenges with the large area. These teams need to be available 24/7. A mobile crisis team can stabilize people 70 percent of the time. The remaining 30 percent need a safe place to go. They would need a facility to transport them to and called them crisis receiving centers. It would not be a clinician that meets them, possibly and preferably people with prior experience with a crisis and have been certified as peer support specialists. They would be licensed as outpatient centers and have recliners and not beds. These would be a 24-hour center.” He also said some would need further crisis support and they would require beds and possibly up to two weeks stays. Medicaid will pay for 70 percent of these services and Medicare will pay some.
Lindstrom said in December he would have a report for Grant County that will be a road map to meet the crisis needs in the community. It will address what the needs will be and how to make sure they will be sustainable.
HMS CEO Dr. Dan OteroArizaga said she brought everyone together to get to know what services the community has available. “We do have a lot available. It is important to share the information.” She gave a list of all the services that HMS offers, the internships and behavioral health care practitioners. Under HMS they have Tu Casa, Community Mental Health Center, and Tranquil Skies. In the future they want to become a CCPHC (certified community behavioral health clinic). “This is the way things are moving across the country.” Arizaga said mental health problems directly affect physical health. “We all have to work together to make this happen. Everyone deserves this care whether they are homeless or a CEO.” She had observed the reason people get better has a lot to do with connections and relationships. She had learned a lot from her dad when he was director of hospice. “We can always support, and I look forward to continuing to work on this.”
Other primary behavioral health care providers spoke. Teresa Dahlin who has been involved in trauma and recovery spoke and gave the audience a description of what she had been doing and the very different approach they have been using that addressed both sides of the brain with a very high success rate.
Aretha Amundson, Winborn Counseling, said they now have six therapists and two interns. They use different modalities and work with children and families. They have been here for two years.
Jim Helgert, Recovery Management Center, said they have been in the area for 32 years and have been an outpatient facility. They currently have been working with Cobre. The center has thirteen clinicians and only have the best of the best.
Dr. Amalia Humada-Ludeke, Border Area Mental Health, said they have a partnership with Western New Mexico University and have a shared vision. Border Area will have a paid internship that will be an innovative piece and help fill in the gaps. She expressed her gratitude to HMS for their help with coordinated services. They are very similar to HMS but have services located in Silver City, Deming, Las Cruces, and Anthony.
They brought in the secondary providers of behavioral health. William Hawkins, Silver Consolidated Schools superintendent had not been able to attend.
Christina Wolford-Castillo, SPIN (supporting people in need), said she could not do what she does without the collaboration of every one of the providers. She announced a new mobile homeless outreach and harm reduction program. This will take place across Grant, Luna, and Hidalgo Counties. They added a psychiatric nurse practitioner recently so they can give clients immediate access to medication management. She listed some of the other services such as helping the clients secure disability and social security benefits. “I had a vision to change behavioral health in the area.” Having a place to sleep and eat regularly would help people have better outcomes. They have several organizations they partner with.
Emma Eileen McKinley, SASS (sexual assault support services), said they serve Grant, Luna, Catron, and Hidalgo Counties. As of this year they will be a developing a child advocacy center. The organization has a lot of programs for people that have experienced sexual assault or children that have been victims of abuse or witnesses to abuse. They have therapists for both adult and children free of charge. She touched on how trauma can lead to people being more likely to end up in the criminal justice system and be homeless. “Early intervention is important.” She provided a 24/7 crisis line 1-866-750-6474.
They opened the floor to questions. People had a variety of questions that ranged from drug detox to homeless. The task force that Patricia Cano recently organized came up in the discussion and what they have been trying to do. This task force addresses the issues with behavioral health, substance abuse and homeless. A few residents brought up the problems they had with people they encountered with behavioral issues. One of the residents pointed out that the homeless problem had previously been a in the cities but now it had come here. One asked if any of the experts had any solutions to get them out of the residential communities where these kinds of things don’t need to be around children. They discussed the difficulty of deciding where the facilities would be located.
Grant County Commission Chair Chris PonceChris Ponce, Grant County Commissioner, gave closing remarks. He thanked everyone for attending. “We need to know what services we have available, and this has helped us know what we have.” The common theme he had heard was: “We need to come together. Something close to my heart is seniors and they need to be reached out to. We often forget them because we don’t see them. We need to look and see the needs of the community.” He added this information needs to be shared.