Photos and article by Lynn Janes
On November 2, 2023, three officials from Farmington came to Silver City to share what they have done in their community to solve the substance abuse, mental health challenges and homelessness. They had invited the public and officials in our area to attend the presentation at the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center.
The officials that came down to talk with the attendees have been directly involved in the solutions they have used in their community. They included: Julie Baird, deputy city manager of Farmington; Brandon Heard, deputy chief of administration Farmington fire department; and Kristine Carlson-Werito, regional behavioral health clinic administrator. They all brought a different perspective to the discussion. Each spoke about Presbyterian medical services, Totah Campus of Care, JIP (joint intervention program) and the sobering center.
Patricia CanoPatricia Cano set up the presentation after hearing them
Lt. Gov. Howie Morales speak at the recent municipal league conference held in Farmington. Jose Diaz, city of Bayard councilor, cohosted the event. Lieutenant Governor Howie Morales opened the meeting with a short speech. He commented they had gotten a great turn out for the meeting. He encouraged everyone to ask questions and have a productive discussion.
Cano thanked Alex Brown, town manager for providing lodging and meals for the presenters. She also thanked the convention center for the meeting place and WNMU for the hot drinks. She also acknowledged Diaz for the veggie trays and Guadalupe Cano, mayor pro tem Silver City town council, for meat and cheese trays.
Patricia Cano announced to the attendees that this would only be for Farmington to present what they have been doing and not a conversation of what this community has going on. On December 5, 2023, the community will have the opportunity to meet and give comments and suggestions to the city and county officials. Farmington will make the power point presentation available to anyone who would like to have it. They provided cards to ask them questions about what they have been doing for the end of the presentation.
Patricia Cano said currently the community has a lot going on to look at and find solutions to the problems facing the area. "Farmington's demographics are a little different, as they have a large Native American population." She asked people to email her with questions or requests for the power point presentation after the meeting and not contact the presenters.
Jose Diaz, city of Bayard councilorDiaz said he had heard their presentation at the municipal league conference and had been very impressed. The problems they have had everyone has been having across the country. "We have the same problems here."
Julie Baird, deputy city manager of FarmingtonBaird presented first to give an overview of the programs. She commented that because of the amount of people that attended it would be a great beginning to start the process. "Farmington started this ten years ago, so it does not happen overnight. It has been a process and a lot of frustration." The tribal land is dry so they come into town so they can get alcohol. Farmington does not have traditional homelessness. These people have homes on their tribal land, but they come to town for sometimes weeks and months at a time, at that time they would be considered homeless. Ten years ago, they had people inebriated on the streets day and night and the only choices for them would be jail, emergency room, or a 72 hour detox. Many didn't want to go to the detox and would commit crimes, so they didn't have to, and the jails filled up. The emergency room would fill up. They had a winter shelter for five months of the year and that worked well for those five months. The problem came with an increasing cost that would not be sustainable. Presbyterian, San Juan county and the city of Farmington came together to come up with alternatives.
Presbyterian had already been running a behavioral health center and dealing with substance abuse. They started looking at the top ten users, that being the most jail time, emergency room use and detox use and what resources that cost for one year. It came to just under $1 million.
They started a pilot program and used the winter shelter and that worked great until winter. They needed to have the housing component to be permanent. They started with a forty-bed unit. At the same time the people running the detox center gave notice they would be closing. At that point they had to add a sobering center as a component. They started the JIP that included the hospital, county, and city. She went over what they had changed and added in the past ten years. They tweaked the program and learned along the way.
Kristine Carlson-Werito, regional behavioral health clinic administrator.Werito said, "You are already ahead of where we started." They had huge frustration with the problems across the board and huge public expenses. Hundreds of people, chronic addictions, homeless and a lot of people on the streets. The goal would be to end the cycle. "You have to show how mental health and being healthy is financially beneficial." They needed the medical providers, legal system, treatment providers to be on board. In 2001 all the area officials came together and created Totah. They created it with the philosophy that the people using the services would not be called clients but be called "relations" at the request of the tribe that stressed language matters. They refer to the clients as relatives. Werito explained why that was done and how it came from the beliefs of the Navajo nation.
Totah started with outpatient and traditional services. The traditional services included sweat lodges and prayers of protection. A big part of addiction comes from being disenfranchised and not being connected. Being able to connect people back to their culture and back to their families has been a major step in getting them better.
The officers began to see the clients on the street sober and saw them very differently. Now those clients that used to be afraid of the officers see them as somebody helping them. When they have been a victim of a crime, they ask for the officers now to report that crime. One of the officers involved has even been teaching yoga classes in the shelter. "It is about building relationships."
The winter shelter has now been open year-round for two years. Werito went over the benefits to the community this had and noted the decreases in arrests, emergency room visits, emergency responses, sobering center use and days in jail for 2022. They had all been given health care, help with finding jobs, and help reuniting them with their families. She went over all the programs they offer and how many use those programs. The sobering center has been made nice inside and the staff makes them feel comfortable and wanted. "The sobering center is voluntary, and they can leave anytime they want to." It has been a better outcome than detox. When they opened it up it was one of twelve in the country. "It has made a big difference."
Brandon Heard, deputy chief of administration Farmington fire departmentHeard said he had been with the fire department 17 years and before that the police department, so he had seen both sides. He knew they needed to do something. In the past when they received a call that someone was down, they would need to send all three, police, fire, and EMT. Sometimes they had a medical issue but more times they just could not care for themselves and not all those resources would have been needed. They had been getting 35-40 calls a day. They created the ARU, alternative response unit. He went over how this had been created and the input of the responders to make it work and make it better. The persons working on this unit receive police training on how to handle any situation and when they need to call for additional help. They all must be EMT licensed so they can ascertain the medical condition of the individual. He went over all the equipment the unit has. They started with used busses and run a route that has been determined by past calls. They do not respond to anything that might be sketchy or when violence has happened. "The ARU is a great program for us." He gave the audience the numbers for the use of the ARU in 2022.
Baird went over the money side of the of the programs. All the government entities and the hospital in that area entered into an agreement to share the costs. Originally the hospital incurred 49 percent, the county 24 percent, and the city 30 percent. The split has been done differently now. She went over the charges and why they had split it up the way they had. They now have a whole campus that has grown through time. She went over all the sources used to obtain the funding and who has responsibility for each facility.
They have future plans for the programs. Werito went over some of those plans and some of the other places that have these programs. She listed Dona Ana County, Albuquerque, and Colorado.
The speakers all took questions from the audience. Some of the questions given would be held for the December 5, 2023, meeting that would be for specifically Grant County. They only took questions that related to their situation in Farmington. The audience had many questions concerning the judges agreeing to some of the programs, how they set up the rooms and some of the cost savings. Other questions asked concerned the information they had provided. One of the questions had to do with the location of the facility. Baird said they had it outside of town and have avoided the backlash from the community. It in part that happened because the city already owned the property out of town area. They do have problems with fentanyl and methamphetamine but in the past, they only had to deal with alcohol. The audience asked about the biggest barriers they had faced. They cited the ARU and finding EMTs. The audience also wanted to know if their district attorney held violent criminals accountable and they said it had been a hit or miss and an ongoing challenge. Many questions came from the audience for the speakers. The whole presentation was recorded and available on YouTube. Youtube.com/atgrantcountyevents https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUyIKeXjIQk