Good news today for Network 180. It’s received one million dollars ($1 M) in funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. Network 180 serves Kent County addressing the needs of residents with a developmental disability, substance use disorder, or mental illness. Officials say this grant is very significant for the agency.
“One the national level, everyone is trying to do healthcare better. And this is a model that is working.”
Scott Gilman is the Executive Director of Network 180. He says the one million dollars in funding is critical in that it allows the network to replicate the “Behavioral Health Home service delivery model.” Basically, what that means is that dollars will directly impact treatment services. It will also allow workers to take a look at treatment options for younger patients.
“Typically, when someone has a mental health issue, we start out with out-patient or lower levels of care and what we’ve found is that when a young adult has their first psychotic break, the sooner that we can get very, very intensive services to them, the better their outcomes are. So this will allow us to sort of get around that criteria, and provide more intensive services so we have better outcomes for their entire life.”
Gilman says not only will those in the 18 to 25 years of age be reviewed, but the grant will also help Network180 work with seriously mentally ill older or elderly adults as well.
“This will help us coordinate with their primary care doctor, so if an older adult has medical problems but also mental health problems that might get in the way, the team will work with the primary care doctors on what we call the social determinants of health; so helping with transportation, sometimes older adults just have trouble paying their bills, getting their medications.”
Lisa La Plante is the Communications Director with Kent County. She says they’re equally excited about the State’s health endowment funding.
“Health and human services is a critical component of what we do. And so, to see a program like this expand, and we know that it saves money and we know that it’s saving lives, so it’s great to see something like this get that stamp of approval from the state so that they can move forward.”
The grant runs through July of 2018.
