Supervisors look at Public Health programs

At some point, the Calhoun County Board of Supervisors will need to tell Public Health whether to continue with a partially grant funded program that aims to help adults with mental and physical health problems, Public Health Administrator Barb Riley said July 25, during an update to the board.
“Calhoun County has taken this program further than other counties,” Riley said, referring to the Community Care Coalition Initiative. “With the Board of Supervisors, we can decide if that’s the level we want to run with it.”
The county’s Public Health Department has invested about $25,000 in the program, and received about $10,000 from a grant, directed through the Webster County Public Health Department, to use for the program’s services. Riley showed the board case studies that illustrated how the intensive interactions between Public Health employees and adults with mental health problems and addiction has reduced the number of unnecessary – and only partially reimbursed – ambulance calls for such patients. One case saved an estimated $5,000 in ambulance calls in a six-month period. 
Read more in the Aug. 2 edition.