Lifeways, a major mental health provider in Ontario, is another step closer to a significant expansion of its services to help those needing treatment for substance abuse and psychiatric issues.
Steve Jensen, chief executive officer of Lifeways, said in a Friday, March 28, email that the organization received a grant agreement from the Oregon Health Authority for $15 million and that the facility would be ready to begin operation in 2027.
The grant will help fund construction of Project Hope, the region’s first behavioral crisis center. Local officials say the facility will address a longstanding need in Malheur County for those struggling with addiction and mental illness.
A behavioral crisis center is a facility that provides intervention for those going through a mental health or substance abuse crisis.
Initially envisioned for the former West Park Plaza, the project is now going to operate in two buildings near Lifeway’s primary location on Sunset Drive.
One of the locations will include 16 secured beds for those charged with crimes but unable to aid in their own defense or those guilty of crimes except for insanity. Those individuals are often put under the jurisdiction of the Oregon Psychiatric Security Review Board.
The location that will have the 16 secured beds – dubbed secured residential treatment – is for those guilty of crimes except for insanity who the psychiatric review board has discharged from the state hospital, according to Jensen.
When the psychiatric board deems a patient to be safe after being found guilty of crimes except for insanity, that person is discharged to secured residential treatment facilities, Jensen said.
He added that patients at secure residential treatments cannot leave when they want. However, Jensen said that once those people have served their time, they would be released into the community where they committed their crimes.
Malheur County Sheriff Travis Johnson expressed concern about out-of-county psychiatric patients using the facility when beds become available.
Johnson said he sometimes has disagreed with the psychiatric board about the finding that patients are safe to release from the state hospital. Some, he said, still have a potential for violence and could pose a danger to the community.
“I’m certainly not a professional in that arena, Johnson said, “but I like to think I have pretty good judgment on when someone truly is still dangerous.”
Johnson noted the case of Anthony Montwheeler, who was released from a state hospital after being found “guilty except for insanity.” Montwheeler subsequently kidnapped and murdered his ex-wife and crashed his truck into another vehicle, killing a Vale man.
However, Johnson also said he supports the project and feels it would benefit the county.
“I think the pros outweigh the cons,” he said.
Jensen said Lifeways would primarily serve Malheur County patients who are experiencing a mental health crisis rather than patients guilty of crimes except for insanity. However, he said, those patients could be admitted when beds become available in Malheur County.
He added that the facility will be secure, with locked doors and fences
around the exterior.
Jensen said the project also plans a second complex with eight beds for detox and 48 beds for those needing to be in a controlled residence while undergoing treatment for substance abuse.
The facility would provide police a place to take people for urgent attention without going to the emergency room.
With the lack of other options, Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Ontario has served as a de facto mental health facility. Emergency rooms are often not equipped to help those struggling with a mental health crisis, and the influx of such patients can lead to longer wait times for other patients needing emergency care, according to researchers from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.
News tip? Send your information to Steven Mitchell at [email protected].
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Lifeways plans $19 million project in Ontario for those in crisis
