Page 13 - Healthcare News Jan/Feb 2023

GREATER SPRINGFIELD SENIOR SERVICES
Ombudsman Program
You Have Rights!
An Ombudsman is an advocate working to resolve prob- lems related to the health, welfare, and rights of individuals living in Nursing & Rest Homes and Assisted Living Facili- ties. Ombudsmen visit facilities regularly and offer a way for residents to voice their complaints and work towards a resolution with staff.
Ombudsman Can:
• Help residents and caregivers better understand their rights
• Work with residents to resolve issues in a respectful manner
• Provide resources to residents and families about insurance
and appeal issues.
To connect with your local Ombudsman, please contact the I&R Department at 413-781-8800
Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm or visit our website at www.gsssi.org
www.gsssi.org
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BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CONT’D
to pay. The phone and chat line offer real-time clinical tri- age and service navigation in more than 200 languages to help individuals and families access the range of treatment for mental-health and addiction offered in the Common- wealth, including outpatient, urgent, and immediate crisis intervention. Every call, text, or chat conversation includes clinical follow-up.
The launch of the Help Line, mobile crisis services,
tion stated, for timely, high-quality mental-health and SUD treatment. The main goal is to expand access, includ- ing same-day access to assessments, urgent stabilization, medication management, evidenced-based psychotherapy, and crisis services. Other offerings include connection with peer specialists (individuals who have had similar experiences to those seeking treatment); help with navi- gating support services, including insurance, housing, and food; and skill-building workshops.
Defining the Need
Panelists who participated in the CHD event agreed there are gaps in community mental-support measures that will hopefully be addressed by this new model of care. Three of CHD’s five CBHCs are located in Western Mass., in Northampton, Greenfield, and Chicopee.
Holyoke Police Detective Brian Summers, who has been on the force for 20 years, said the department has
dealt with a fourfold increase in mental-health-related incidents over the past five years, and many of those involved end up in a hospital emergency room.
Earl Miller, director of Community Responders for Equity, Safety, and Service for the town of Amherst, said his department often works with the Amherst Po- lice, who answer about 20,000 calls a year, and about half of them are mental-health-related.
“These calls take ambulances and police off the streets, so we’re not able to do preventive work because we’re responding to these things that we’re ill-equipped and ill-resourced for,” he noted. “And they take a huge cost on the lives of the folks respond- ing, who are just trying to do their job but are put in
unwinnable situations on a daily basis.”
The CBHC model, he pointed out, “has the opportunity
to change a lot of people’s lives in substantial ways.” Nicole Arnold, an RN at Baystate Medical Center, said
she hopes CBHCs will decrease the need for inpatient mental healthcare, especially since her hospital’s specialty inpatient behavioral-healthcare teams are sometimes
Please see Centers, page 15
an“
d CBHCs introduces a new ‘front door’ to behavioral
BHN welcomes the opportunity to provide much- needed behavioral-health services and greater access in the coverage areas designated by the Commonwealth. We believe this will serve the state and region well, and we are pleased to be a part of this new and critically important initiative.”
STEVE WINN
healthcare for Massachusetts residents, making it easier for residents to find and access behavioral-health services, reducing reliance on hospital emergency rooms, and streamlining the availability of behavioral-health clinical services for adults and youth.
BHN WellBeing is the name Behavioral Health Network gave its new CBHC program, with locations in Springfield and Westfield.
BHN WellBeing serves as an entry point, the organiza-
“BHN welcomes the opportunity to provide much- needed behavioral-health services and greater access in the coverage areas designated by the Commonwealth,” President and CEO Steve Winn said. “We believe this will serve the state and region well, and we are pleased to be a part of this new and critically important initiative.”