Council Approves $55,000 Deal To Add Mental Health Services

Evanston aldermen recently approved a $55,000 deal with Presence Behavioral Health, in hopes of bridging what city officials describe as a gap in mental health services caused in part by state cutbacks.

City council members voted unanimously to approve the agreement with Presence (formerly Resurrection Behavioral Health) at Monday night’s council meeting. The center operates out of St. Francis Hospital, and will provide a 24-hour crisis hotline, case management, outreach services and home visitations to Evanston residents.

Health Director Evonda Thomas told city council members that the demands on the city’s police and fire departments had increased as mental health providers closed up or cut services around the area, due to reductions or delays in state funding. The state of Illinois cut 15 percent of its budget for mental health organizations between 2009 and 2011, according to the most recent data from the National Alliance On Mental Illness.

Often, Thomas said, people called 9-11 who were in fact in need of mental health services. Some “frequent callers,” she said, called the police department anywhere between three and 10 times a week, or would call the fire department requesting to go to the hospital (a request they cannot refuse). A crisis hotline, she said, would hopefully fill the need for some of those people.

The $55,000 budget for Presence Health in 2013 includes $30,500 for a part-time social worker and $20,000 for expansion of Presence’s crisis hotline, among other costs. 

Frank Perham, vice president with Presence Health, explained that some of the funds would go toward spreading the word to residents who would be better served by calling the crisis hotline than by calling 9-11.

“They call 9-11, they know they’ll be taken to the ED. In the ED, they’ll be given a sandwich, a nurse will talk to them. They call 9-11 again a couple of days later,” he said. “We think this could potentially relieve some of that abuse of 9-11.” 

Ald. Jane Grover (7th Ward), a former member of the city’s mental health board, said she believed the proposal would meet a serious need in the community. 

“You can’t deny the extraordinary expense that the city incurs both in the way of personnel and budget to address the chronic callers,” she said. “There’s some need there that’s not being addressed, and I’ve got to believe that this won’t be a one-year commitment.”