SUBSTANCE ABUSE SHELTER ADVANCES

Mental Health Gets Nod To Offer Space For Temporary Facility For
Those Under Influence

A temporary shelter for people under the influence of drugs and
alcohol is one step closer to opening in Columbia. At a meeting
Tuesday, the Mental Health Commission allowed the Department of
Mental Health to provide space in one of the buildings on state
psychiatric hospital grounds to house the 40-bed shelter.

The facility, which will be funded by the Palmetto Health Alliance,
the city of Columbia and Richland County, is set to open by June,
said George Gintoli, director of the Department of Mental Health.

While some of the people who come to the shelter might be mentally
ill, the shelter's primary purpose will be to deal with substance
abuse problems, said Jack Claypoole, executive director of the
Lexington Richland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council Behavioral Health
Center of the Midlands. The shelter will be staffed by the agency.

The shelter will largely serve the homeless population, who often end
up in jail cells, hospital emergency rooms or mental health
facilities because there is no other place to send them. People can
come to the shelter on their own or through a referral.

About 80 percent of the people who end up staying in emergency rooms
don't need inpatient treatment, Gintoli said. The shelter will give
people who are under the influence a safe place to stay for the night
while they sober up.

"The key is to properly diagnose these people and place them
appropriately," Gintoli said.

Many of the people who will come through the shelter will just be
looking for a warm bed, Claypoole said. But the people who do want to
make changes in their lives will have easy access to counselors who
can help them get their lives together.

Claypoole hopes to have both mental health and substance abuse
counselors on hand each morning to talk to people before they go back
out on the street and line up treatment for them if they want it. A
staff of about 28 people is planned.

The shelter's annual operating budget will be about $1 million, said
Greg Gattman, vice president of Palmetto Health. That money would go
to the drug abuse council to cover its expenses.

After working on the concept of the shelter for almost 10 years,
Claypoole said he's thrilled that things finally seem to be moving
forward.

"We're the closest we've ever been," he said. "We desperately need
something to help these folks out."