SUMMIT COUNTY: DETOX FACILITY FACES $41K BUDGET SHORTFALL

Summit Safe Haven, the county's detoxification facility is facing a
more than $41,000 budget shortfall for 2011.

The organization gets most of its approximately $300,000 budget from
contributions from local police departments, the sheriff's office,
local governments and hospitals. The detox facility also receives some
state and federal aid.

"There is not a consistent funding source for a program like this that
currently is in place in Summit County," said Kathy Davis, a program
director with Colorado West Regional Mental Health Inc., the nonprofit
organization that runs Summit Safe Haven.

The social detox center provides a safehouse for people who have
binged on alcohol or controlled substances or individuals experiencing
a mental health crisis. The facility, established three years ago,
helps alleviate crowding at the Summit County Jail, where people were
taken under similar circumstances in the past.

In addition to keeping individuals under supervision and providing a
safe place for them to sober up, the detox facility also provides
in-patient and out-patient counseling services as well as a discharge
plan to put clients on a healthy course.

"People end up in detox for a lot of different reasons," Davis said.
"For a lot of people that's their low point, that's their bottom that
they've hit. It's a teachable moment and that's why we have the
counselors there. It can be that moment for them that's going to make
all the difference in the world. So we try to take advantage of that."

Before the detox facility was established, individuals brought in by
law-enforcement officers who were not being charged were kept in a
separate room in the county jail to sleep or, if space was limited
were sometimes kept in holding cells. State law mandates that
intoxicated individuals or those on drugs be separated from the
general public until they sober up.

"(Summit Safe Haven) is a much better alternative than keeping those
people in the jail," county manager Gary Martinez said. "It ties up
jail space and we'd rather not have those individuals there if we can."

Martinez said the facility's budget shortfall is a concern for the
Summit Board of County Commissioners because the detox center provides
an important service for the county and alleviates financial and
crowding burdens on the county jail.

Colorado West Regional Mental Health will try to address the shortage
through grants and other fundraising. Martinez said the commissioners
also discussed possible solutions, but have not yet come to any
conclusions.

Summit Safe Haven is also a mental health triage facility that
provides a cost-saving option for both the patient and the county.
Individuals experiencing a mental health crisis who might otherwise be
taken to emergency rooms outside the county can be treated at Summit
Safe Haven.

The facility, along with contributions from state and local
government entities, looks to public donations to help meet operating
costs. To get involved with Summit Safe Haven either by volunteering
or donating, contact program coordinator Michelle Flake at (970) 668-9100.