Douglas County officials weighing what’s next for mental health facility

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Discussions continue on mental healthcare in Douglas County after commissioners voted down a plan to locate a community mental health center next to a proposed facility that would serve Douglas County Jail inmates.

County Commissioner James Cavanaugh now wants to put a plan in place that would create a long-term residential mental healthcare center.

Cavanaugh’s plan relies on help from others to facilitate long-term mental healthcare in the county.

“This is a great opportunity to set up what could be a national model for public health cooperation and private participation to provide these services to our community,” he said.

Cavanaugh’s plan calls for UNMC and the VA Hospital to team up with the county to create the 42nd Street Public Health Corridor. The county’s portion of the funds would come from ARPA funds left over after a mental healthcare facility for inmates is built on the county jail’s campus.

“The bulk of it should be expended on people who are not inmates of the correction center in Douglas County who have mental health care needs,” Cavanaugh said. “So a big chunk of $50 million is available just to Douglas County. That’s not counting the contributions we can get from our consortium partners keeping this running long-term.”

Douglas County Board Chairperson Mary Ann Borgeson disagrees.

“No, because the board is not and has not, from the very beginning, been supportive of getting long-term mental health care.”

Borgeson has been fighting hard for mental healthcare in the county -- but she says long-term help isn’t the county’s agenda.

“Long-term mental health is not our responsibility,” she said. “It’s very costly, and that’s why you see or don’t see lots of people providing that. It would break the bank, basically.”

But Cavanaugh says he is counting on UNMC, the state and others to help with the cost of renovating the Douglas County Hospital campus and to take over the cost of operating the facility.

“That, I would like to see,” Borgeson said. “Again, it’s been there. The issue has been there. They’ve not stepped in before and said, ‘we’ll do long-term care mental health’ and then just telling you that people are not going to want to do long-term care. That’s why the state shut down their regional facilities, because it was costing them too much.”

Cavanaugh believes his plan will work.

“If you have abundant existing facilities, and we do, there’s no real reason to run up the cost building new buildings, so use what you got and stretch those dollars as far as you can, and you can serve a lot more people,” he said.

County commissioners should discuss plans to build a mental health facility for Douglas County Jail inmates next week.

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