| Name | Carrie |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Robinson |
| Home Address | 8140 Burgundy Circle Chattanooga, TN 37421 United States |
| Organization Name | Volunteer Behavioral Health Care System |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | As Sr. VP of Operations reporting directly to the President & CEO, Carrie Robinson provides oversight of four outpatient locations and all residential housing and semi-supervised apartments. A Chattanooga resident, she also serves on the Executive Leadership team with Regional Sr. VPs of Operations and the Chief Business Development Officer over Crisis Services and the Chattanooga Crisis Stabilization Unit and Walk-In Center. |
| Organization Address | 413 Spring Street PO Box 4755 Chattanooga, TN 37405 United States |
| Website | https://www.vbhcs.org |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 423-413-1648 |
| Alternate Phone Number | 615-580-0283 |
| Email Address | crobinson@vbhcs.org |
| Alternate Email Address | swest@vbhcs.org |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | Volunteer Behavioral Health Care System (VBH) is seeking funding for a time-limited pilot project to fund 2 FTE Crisis Intervention Coordinator positions to work within the Erlanger Health System. These positions will be highly qualified master’s level trained clinicians. This will not only increase accessibility to crisis intervention services but will also help address the on-going Emergency Department (ED) boarding issues that have been impacting the City of Chattanooga and the entire country for the past several years. During the COVID pandemic, challenges for individuals with increased mental health needs receiving care at EDs has been exacerbated due to being COVID positive or quarantined themselves or due to staff reductions from quarantine/isolation. EDs have been less equipped to provide crisis services and treatment in the middle of a pandemic not only due increased workload from actively sick COVID patients, but also from backlogs of non-COVID patients who avoided the ED for too long resulting in greater levels of illness. ED boarding refers to the period of time when patients remain in the ED after they have been admitted or placed into observation status at the facility, but have not been transferred to an inpatient or observation unit. Crisis Intervention Coordinator positions would be embedded in Erlanger’s EDs during peak hours and would work in close partnership and collaboration with the ED staff to best ensure individuals who require crisis intervention will have immediate access to an assessment. This will reduce the amount of waiting and provide more timely access to the most clinically appropriate, safest, and least restrictive level of care for those visiting the ED for a mental health issue. VBH will seek to enter into an agreement with Erlanger to share relevant data and outcomes and utilize any mutually beneficial programming for individuals in need of care. This data will be used to help ensure the success and sustainability of this project throughout and beyond the grant-funded period. The data collected will inform how to best serve the needs of individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. As the state designated mobile crisis provider for Hamilton county, VBH is required to be involved in crisis assessments and referrals to Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute (MBMHI) for those in need of involuntary emergency in-patient psychiatric treatment. By providing direct access to an assessment and coordination of placement on site, it is anticipated that in addition to an increase in timely access to the most appropriate level of care there will also be a reduction in costs for hospital systems and law enforcement. It is also anticipated that more individuals will be able to be referred to less restrictive and most appropriate treatment and services. Crisis Intervention Coordinators may be more aware of other alternatives and may have that extra 5 or 10 minutes to contact resources and find all available options. The remainder of the budget beyond salary and benefits includes communications, travel/mileage, supplies and equipment, and admin. |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | The Interim Final Rules states “new or enhanced services may be needed to meet behavioral health needs exacerbated by the pandemic and to respond to other public health impacts. These services include mental health treatment, substance misuse treatment, other behavioral health services, hotlines or warmlines, crisis intervention, overdose prevention, infectious disease prevention, and services or outreach to promote access to physical or behavioral health primary care and preventative medicine.” Crisis Intervention Coordinators are not only highly trained and qualified to handle immediate crisis issues, but they can also provide linkages to outpatient services, telehealth options for care, and community partner resources across the full spectrum of public health services made more challenging by the pandemic. |
| Where would your project take place? | Erlanger Health System Emergency Departments (ED) |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 176500 |
| Do you have any matching funding sources from other local governments, private entities, non-profits, or philanthropic entities for your project? | No |
| Please describe the source and list amounts of any other funding. | |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | |
| If funded, when would your project start? | July 1, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | Total time needed for the project would be 14 months, which includes 12 months for the pilot program and 2 months for data analysis and evaluation report completion and dissemination.. |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | VBH anticipates that using Crisis Intervention Coordinators will increase the number of assessments done by CIC instead of ED staff (freeing up provider time), reduce response time for people who may be experiencing a crisis, reduce wait time spent in the ED, increase the number of clients deferred from MBMHI, and decrease the frequency of law enforcement transports. Additionally, VBH has a vigorous research and evaluation process that would begin upon award and involve all stakeholders (including family or consumer representation) so that they can provide input on important milestones and measures from their perspective as well. |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | VBH will produce detailed qualitative and quantitative quarterly reports and any ad hoc reports such as anticipated timelines of activities as requested or required. A newly formed Community Development department will also be tasked with the creation and dissemination of updates to partners and the community surrounding this initiative. This is important for reducing mental and behavioral health stigma and also for providing information for the community on expectations when visiting the ED with a mental health issue. VBH has extensive experience providing quality mental health services, including crisis response, assessment, and treatment. VBH is a longstanding community behavioral health agency serving 32 counties in TN and is CARF accredited. The agency serves over 40,000 Tennesseans with behavioral health disorders and has substantial experience in grant management and reporting. We have dedicated departments that oversee compliance procedures, data systems, clinical care, and fiscal responsibility to ensure quality management of programming and accountability to funding partners. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | This project would most importantly have a significant positive impact for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis, ensuring they receive the right treatment at the right place at the right time. In addition, there would also be benefits to the community as a whole. It could have a potential significant cost savings to the hospital system, local law enforcement, and the public mental health system. By reducing ED boarding, the ED will be more accessible to the community for other emergent needs. By reducing mental health transports, law enforcement will have more resources available in the community. It could also benefit individuals who may not be experiencing a mental health crisis but may have other mental health or support needs. The VBH crisis intervention coordinator would link them to existing community resources. |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | The need for this project has been identified from recent and on-going discussions VBH has had with leadership at Erlanger and Chattanooga City Police. The Community Development department and a newly hired Community Development Director for Chattanooga and the Southeast would work to attract additional buy-in from other stakeholders through community meetings, press releases, social media, television, and collaboration. |
| Name | Sudave Mendiratta, MD FACEP |
| Contact Information | 423-778-7000 |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? | We very much appreciate the opportunity to apply for these funds to launch this much-needed pilot project to care for Chattanoogans in need. We look forward to your decision. Thank you for your consideration! |