The 'right model for our community': How DuPage health officials want to use opioid settlement money
With DuPage County set to receive a windfall from settlements of nationwide lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors, public health officials hope to use some of the money to help staff a crisis recovery center expected to be built next year.
The center will serve as an alternative to hospital emergency rooms. Family members, emergency medical services workers and law enforcement officials will be able to bring adults and young people experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis to the new facility.
"It's a place to stabilize and be safe, and develop a plan for ongoing care with a team of mental health professionals," DuPage County Health Department Executive Director Adam Forker said.
The 33,000-square-foot center will become a crucial part of a multipronged approach to behavioral health services. The health department already operates a countywide crisis hotline, serves as a call center for the 988 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and has a mobile crisis response team. When the center opens, people in crisis will have "someone to call, someone to respond, and somewhere to go."
"We will be the first in Illinois to establish this type of comprehensive system," Forker said.
County board members have set aside $15.3 million in American Rescue Plan funds to help build the $25.8 million facility on the health department campus in Wheaton. Officials are on track to break ground on the project in the spring.
"We anticipate needing at least 40 more mental health professionals by the time we open the doors in the summer of 2025. That's a lot of recruiting," Forker said.
The health department has asked county board members to allocate a portion of the opioid settlement payouts - $850,000 - to ramp up staffing for the crisis recovery center in 2024. Forker is looking to hire key employees - psychiatric nurses, crisis counselors, certified medical assistants and peer specialists - next year.
"It will help us strategically expand our behavioral health workforce and position ourselves for the successful opening of the CRC, but I think of equal importance, it would expand services for residents right now," Forker said.
That means the health department would have more staff to answer hotline calls or respond to a crisis before the center is up and running. Plans call for hiring between 15 and 20 employees in the coming year.
"They would integrate into our existing services, expand on existing services, and then be well-positioned to be core staffing of the new facility once it opens," Forker said.
So far, the county has collected about $2.2 million in opioid lawsuit settlement money. None of it has been spent as yet, DuPage State's Attorney Robert Berlin said.
"We expect over the course of the next 15 years to get anywhere from another $10 (million) to $20 million," Berlin said.
A $5.5 million grant - secured by county board Chairwoman Deborah Conroy when she was a state representative - and a $1 million federal grant have helped make the project a reality. The remaining $4 million in construction costs will be covered through the health department.
Officials are working to identify other funding to support the center's operations.
"Ultimately, our sustainability plan will be largely modeled after our current operations, which are sustainable," Forker said.
People facing a mental health crisis often find themselves at a police station or a hospital or going without care. The center will provide residents with a plan of action within 24 hours of their arrival - whether it's a referral for inpatient or outpatient mental health or substance use disorder treatment.
"This is the right model for our community. But there are services available today," said Forker, referring to the 988 crisis hotline as an example. "There's too many families suffering and experiencing behavioral health crises and not knowing what to do."
Daily Herald staff writer Alicia Fabbre contributed to this report