PHMO Team Members Join Durham Crisis Collaborative
July 11, 2019
One in four adults and 10 percent of children in the United States will suffer from a mental health illness this year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Part of the PHMO mission includes partnering "with patients, providers, payers, and communities to measurably improve health outcomes through results-driven care management," and the Durham Crisis Collaborative offers the community a smarter way to help our neighbors in times of mental health crises.
On July 11, Dr. Lawrence Greenblatt, PHMO's medical director, and Eva Mihm, manager of DukeWELL Care Management Services, met with other crisis continuum providers in the Durham community to help spread awareness of the network of resources in the area and discuss best practices for crisis care management.
Many people suffering from mental illness events often end up in emergency departments or in local jails, rarely receiving the appropriate care from qualified behavioral health specialists. The Durham Crisis Collaborative hopes to change that. The meeting took place at the newly renovated Durham Recovery Response Center, next door to Duke Regional Hospital in North Durham. The center offers a great alternative to emergency room drop-offs for patients who are in need of care for suicidal thoughts or who exhibit symptoms of substance abuse and/or mental illness.
Other crisis care providers joined the Collaborative, including, the Freedom House Recovery Center, Carolina Outreach Behavioral Health Urgent Care, Durham County EMS Community Para-medicine, and the Durham Police Department Crisis Intervention Team (CIT).
Dr. Greenblatt shared his hopes that a concerted care management network could create a healthier community by reducing dependency on emergency room visits and connecting patients to the right care at the right time.