For individuals experiencing a mental or behavioral health emergency, help is on the way from Belmont Behavioral Health, which is opening a crisis response center in Delaware County, according to Sarah Gantz’s report for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Belmont Behavioral Health is one of the largest mental health providers in the Philadelphia area.
The center will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Last week, Delaware County Council selected Belmont to open the 24/7 center and manage a mobile crisis unit that would respond to 911 emergencies.
The mobile unit should be active within one month. The center is expected to open within six months.
The county hasn’t had a leading crisis response provider since Crozer Health closed the county’s only 24 7 crisis center at Crozer-Chester Medical Center.
Psychiatrists, nurses, and social workers specially trained to work with mental health patients will work at the center.
It will include expanded pediatric services and a stabilization unit to reduce the number of patients being transferred to an inpatient psychiatric facility.
A goal will be to improve mental health services to reduce hospitalizations, according to Belmont CEO Jacqueline Basile.
A location and financial terms for the center have not been finalized.
Read more about Belmont’s crisis center and mobile unit in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
