Keller: Center badly needed for mentally ill

Friday, Sept. 27, 2002 | 11:07 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Sheriff Jerry Keller said today there is a desperate need for a one-stop triage center in Southern Nevada to handle the mentally ill who are filling up hospital emergency rooms and jails.

"When we encounter the mentally ill, we have to have the resources to take care of them," Keller told a legislative subcommittee on mental health issues.

He and Kathryn Landreth, chief of policy and planning in the Metro Police Department, outlined the problems and the costs to the system in which many people are not getting treatment.

During a downturn in the economy in 1992, the state's mental health budget was reduced. Landreth applauded Gov. Kenny Guinn for raising the spending in this area but she said it's still at the 1992 level because of the increase in population.

Landreth also praised the governor for his support of a new psychiatric hospital in Las Vegas. The state Public Works Board on Thursday made that its top priority in the state building list for the 2003 Legislature. The 150-bed facility would cost $32.2 million.

Keller told the subcommittee that there were 25 homeless individuals who accounted for 8,000 arrests over a period of a few years. They were referred to mental health programs, but on average they were arrested four times before they got any treatment, Keller said.

He related an incident in which one mentally ill patient was shot to death as he attacked an officer and another in which a man in jail fought with nine officers before he died.

On average there are 30 mentally ill persons in local hospitals a day and there could be as many as 50, he said.

Keller and Landreth told the subcommittee that individuals wait two to three days before they are accepted into the state's system. Or, when the crisis passes, they are released to the street without any follow-up treatment, he said.

A crisis triage center, Keller said, could determine if these people need mental health treatment or medical help or if they are faking and should be put in jail.

Landreth said that because there is no place to take many petty offenders, they end up in jail for such things as trying to direct traffic.

The $16 million being spent a year is "going down the toilet," she said, because these individuals don't get follow-up treatment. She said with proper medication and help they can become productive citizens.

Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, subcommittee chairman, said when the Legislature understands the problem, "support for these programs should be forthcoming." He said the state should be in a supportive role with the local governments leading the way.

A mental health coalition has been working on the problem for two years, bringing advocates together in Southern Nevada.

Townsend said one problem is there are "silos of money" from federal, state and local resources that are isolated and should be joined for a combined approach to the issue.

Landreth said there were 10 state beds for observation of the mentally ill to be held for 72 hours. That has been increased to 20 beds, still not sufficient with the growing population, she said.

Keller said the estimated number of homeless in Clark County is 8,000, with about half of them needing mental health treatment.