For the Coleman Health Services’ mental health clinic, adding eight new beds to their 11-bed crisis and stabilization unit may not seem significant but it has the potential of making a huge impact. Coleman Health Services broke ground on their new Portage Crisis Center building last Friday morning outside the Sue Hetrick Building in Ravenna.
“It is a whole new level of care, and the idea is to provide services to individuals with a behavioral health need at a behavioral health community center versus jail and or the emergency room,” Coleman Health Services’ President and CEO Hattie Tracy told The Weekly Villager. “Ideally we will be able to provide a more holistic level of care.”
Coleman Health Services plans to build a new five-bed unit which will allow them room to admit adults and children for a 23-hour involuntary hold and will also add three more beds to their already existing crisis unit.
According to Tracy, construction is expected to begin soon, and the timeline is for the project to be completed by September 2026.
The current 11-bed unit allows for voluntary admits to receive treatment for mental health but could not take patients on involuntary holds and did not have the proper facilities to admit children.
This new project will allow Coleman Health Services to expand its mental health treatment services to the community.
The project is being funded by a $2.5 million grant from the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services, $2.5 million in state operating money, thanks to the efforts of Ohio State Representative Gail Pavliga of the 72nd District, and $1.5 million from the Portage County Mental Health and Recovery Board.
Last Friday, Coleman Health Services hosted a press conference with several speakers to inform interested parties of how the project came together and those who were involved.
Steve Bossart, Coleman Health Services’ Vice President of Business Development and Marketing said that the Portage Board received a proclamation from Ohio State Senator Vernon Sykes from the 28th District, commending the Board on its new Crisis Center which would provide friends and neighbors of Portage County with better access to essential care for the specific needs of those living in crisis.
Representative Pavliga spoke about how important it was to address mental health needs, a cause she was familiar because of her previous experience as a psychologist before she pursued a career in politics. In addition to her involvement in this project, she has remained committed to being a mental health advocate by serving as the House Chairperson of the Behavioral Health Committee.
“Mental health problems continue to rise in our great state and unfortunately Portage County is no exception to that,” she added. “However, with this groundbreaking of behavioral health and urgent care, Portage County takes a massive step in expanding the crisis stabilization unit which will advance citizens struggling with mental health issues.”
In addition to the new Crisis Center, Pavliga added that the State is working on new legislation that will require mental health training for all high school coaches.
“Teen athletes deal with many internal challenges but don’t feel comfortable opening up and coaches are a place where those athletes can feel comfortable talking to their coaches,” she said. “Those bills do not require those coaches to be counselors, it only provides educational courses that help them to address and respond to those early situations.”
John Garrity, Portage County’s Executive Mental Health Director, said that this project was originally developed two years ago and spoke about the epidemic of mental health problems that were consuming the country. Like detecting the early signs of severe illnesses, he emphasized the need to also catch the beginning of mental health symptoms in individuals and the new Crisis Center was a step in the right direction in the battle against mental health.
“Right now, we just have not been able to offer the kind of services we want for kids in terms of the environment so this will be very kid friendly and very family friendly,” he said.
Tracy concluded the press conference by talking about how important it is that the new Crisis Center could take patients and provide immediate care rather than them waiting in an emergency room.
With how overcrowded emergency rooms can get, it had been easy for patients to be left unattended while doctors treated those with significant physical injuries. By the time they could attend to patients dealing with mental health problems, the situation had the potential to escalate.
“We will have beds and be able to bring people in when police and EMS drop people off,” Tracy noted. “Everything has been voluntary, and we have had no way to keep them here if they are agitated and aggressive but now we will. We won’t have to call them back and send them to University Hospital where they are focused on a different kind of trauma. We will have the ability to provide services here at our site.”
