FLORENCE — A behavioral health hub in Florence is expected to improve the mental health of Pee Dee residents, provide jobs for Francis Marion University graduates, ease the burdens of finding treatment for probate courts and reduce crime, officials said June 15.
The state, the city of Florence, Medical University of South Carolina, McLeod Health and Francis Marion University announced June 15 plans to bring a first-of-its-kind behavioral health hub to the city of Florence.
The behavioral health facility will provide access to patients across the Pee Dee.
The facility will provide triage, crisis stabilization, telehealth, outpatient and inpatient services to the historically underserved Pee Dee.
“This type of collaborative effort is the only way to transform the delivery of behavioral health services into a continuum of care that improves efficiency and access to these vital services,” South Carolina Department of Health and Human Service Director Robby Kerr said.
The state will provide up to $100 million in staff funds and the city of Florence will provide $5 million for the project.
Florence is considered the first municipality in the state to directly invest municipal funds in a behavioral health facility. The city will stagger its funds over four years.
The new facility will create 250 jobs in Florence.
“A lot of times, people miss the factor of mental health,” Florence Mayor Teresa Myers Ervin said. “If we can make sure that our citizens are mentally stable it helps them with every aspect of life.”
Health care workers from McLeod Health, MUSC and HopeHealth in Florence will work collaboratively to treat patients at the new facility. Treating individuals at the new facility will reduce the number of beds needed for psychiatric patients at the local hospitals.
“There will be more opportunities to serve because we’re freeing up space that you normally wouldn’t have,” State Rep. Terry Alexander of Florence said.
FMU’s contribution
Francis Marion University’s newly-approved doctorate of psychology degree will help provide practitioners needed in the field, said University President Fred Carter. The university will also help prepare psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners.
“This becomes a terrific employment location,” Carter said. “Two weeks ago, the Commission on Higher Education gave us authority to move ahead with a doctorate in clinical and school psychology. We will begin that program in January. So many of those doctoral prepared psychologists could conceivably end up working at this facility as well.”
The facility also will help university and high school students who are struggling with mental health issues, Carter said.
“Right now, you don’t know what to do with them,” Carter said. “There is an acute shortage of psychiatrists in this state. Now, there will be a facility that will be able to take those young men and women. They can talk to them and evaluate them and determine whether or not additional treatment is — either inpatient or outpatient — is needed.”
The late Sen. Hugh Leatherman played a big role in the plans to upgrade mental health services in the state. Carter said.
In the last two years of his life, Leatherman focused on the need to properly fund mental health, Carter said. The state wasn’t doing enough to improve the mental health of South Carolina residents.
“The last week of his life,” Carter said, “he asked to talk to some leadership around the state and they came in and they talked to him. Over and over again, he asked for a commitment from those leaders, including the governor and including the speaker and Sen. (Thomas) Alexander, the president of the Senate, to commit to doing something in the next two years toward enhancing the mental health facilities that we would build and the behavioral health treatment that we would provide the citizens.”
Leatherman’s wife, Jean echoed Carter’s statements.
“This will bring hope that we can help families find solutions so that their futures can be brighter,” she said. “This was Hugh’s last wish.”
Help for law, courts
A Florence-based behavioral health center also will help law enforcement and the probate court system.
The number of mental health cases in the probate court has increase dramatically over the last decade, Florence County Probate Judge Jesse Cartrette Jr. said.
Mental health issues have not been addressed quickly and promptly, Cartrette said. The center will alleviate the wait and provide prompt treatment.
“We jockey with 45 other counties to get our patients on a waiting list for beds in Columbia,” Cartrette said. “They either have to go back home in the less volatile cases where they can wait, or go sit in a county jail until a bed becomes available.”
Immediate treatment at the center will allow those with mental health issues to become or continue to be productive members of society, he said.
Cartrette also said treatment of mental health and substance abuse issues should reduce crime in the Pee Dee.
“I’ve always said since long before I was a judge if we properly address mental health we will reduce the crime rate and make our entire community safer,” he said.
Florence Police Chief Allen Heidler said the department transports a large number of mental health patients to facilities throughout the state.
The number of transports has tripled in the past 10 years, he said.
Officers transporting mental health patients could be doing other duties if a behavioral health center was available in Florence, Heidler said.
“A facility like this here will be addressing those issues that we are having to transport for,” he said.
The facility will contain 16 adult and four adolescent beds for crisis services, 63 beds in an inpatient psychiatric unit and a rapid access center to assist walk-in patients.
Many criminals also are suffering from a mental health or substance abuse crisis, Heidler said.
“There are very few crimes that are committed that don’t have some level of substance abuse or drug involvement with them,” the chief said.
Addressing those issues should reduce crime, he added.
Post and Courier Pee Dee Managing Editor Chris Day contributed to this report.
