Plan will keep mental health center open

Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2004 | 9:20 a.m.

A board of hospital executives and state and county health officials approved a plan Monday for funding a triage center through April to treat patients with mental illness and addictions.

The plan, several months in the making, should allow the WestCare Crisis Triage Center to keep its doors open until the legislative Interim Finance Committee can consider funding it through the end of the fiscal year, June 30, Dan Musgrove of the Clark County Manager's office said.

The funding arrangement, approved unanimously by the Clark County Health District's Facilities Advisory Board, was based on how many patients each hospital was referring from its emergency rooms to the triage center since January and the relative percentage each hospital had of the total.

From January to June the center treated 3,902 patients, 920 of whom came from area hospitals.

University Medical Center and Sunrise Hospital together sent about half of all patients sent by hospitals to the center and so will be making about half of the estimated $109,000 in monthly payments.

Local municipalities will also contribute to the center in amounts to be decided at city council meetings in the coming weeks, Musgrove said.