GROUP PROPOSES CENTER FOR CHRONICALLY DISTURBED

The Methamphetamine Epidemic Has Increased The Need For Triage Care.

Every day, at least one seriously disturbed methatnphetamine user arrives
at the Harrison Hospital emergency department.

"That person is often so disruptive, possibly violent, that extra security
comes in and puts them in another room," said Patti Hart, spokeswoman for
Harrison.

Usually, the person is brought in by police or fire department medics.
Often, the user also is mentally ill, but he rarely needs medical treatment.

It's just that there's no other place to take him. The jail is full and
isn't the right place for him, either. He needs to be detoxified and
brought down from his drug, before an accurate diagnosis can be given. He
may need mental-health care, or drug treatment or both.

Instead, he's released back into the community.

But not before a lot of trouble and unnecessary cost.

That's about to change.

An alarming increase in seriously disturbed meth users and the stresses it
puts on all the wrong systems has pushed a local group of caregivers closer
toward a dream goal that's only been talked about before.

They want to build a crisis emergency center where medical, mental health
and chemical dependency treatment professionals, working together, will
assess the person and devise a plan to help.

"Some are so wrapped up in the drug system that they really aren't capable
of accessing services without help," said Brenda Behrens, the Harrison
emergency social worker who helped document the problem for the hospital.

"They want help, they just don't know how to go about it," Behrens said.

The so-called triage center will take the growing load off police and fire
department medics, turn the emergency rooms back over to real medical
operations and, with luck, give appropriate help to the estimated 20 to 50
chronic overusers of emergency services.

The problem has always been there, but when meth entered the picture, it
became urgent.

The whole community uses hospital emergency services, Behrens said, but a
seriously disturbed patient requires all available resources.

"To have your little girl with a cut finger sitting next to a meth
intoxicated person who is screaming and yelling and cursing at the top of
their lungs is a very unpleasant experience," she said.

Altogether, Harrison emergency gets six people a day who would be better
served at a triage center.

The estimated cost to the public is $1,000 per patient visit, and that's
conservative, said Bebrens, who did a detailed cost study eight years ago
for the Community Interagency Response Network.

Then along came the meth epidemic. "We all agreed that we can't ignore it
anymore. We're being overrun by it," said Michael L. Welpman, chairman of
the group and the involuntary-intake specialist for Kitsap Recovery Center.

A group of between 50 and 70 people including elected officials met last
week and agreed the triage center should be built on the recovery center
grounds, on Fuson Road off Highway 303.

It would be staffed 24 hours a day by specialists in each field, and cost
about $750,000 to build. Welpman said it's likely the group will be able to
obtain federal grant funding for the structure, but funding of ongoing
operations is still undecided.

Initially, the three major stakeholders - Harrison, Kitsap Mental Health
Services and the recovery center will probably kick in some seed money
to keep the plan alive.

Ultimately, the group may go to voters for a commitment for money.

There's no timetable until more information is put together, Welpman said.

Next on the agenda is another visit by leaders of the group to the Pierce
County triage center, one of only a handful in the state.

"We all agree on what this thing should be, what it should look like, where
it should go and what it should do," Welpman said.