Treatment center may be closed
Fresno County leaders are set to meet next month to consider closing the region’s only 24-hour psychiatric treatment center.
County health officials say the closure would save the county $2.5 million as its mental health department faces a budget shortfall.
With no similar urgent care centers in neighboring counties, family members of the mentally ill say the closure would leave them with few options. They say the burden would shift to police and hospital emergency room staff, who lack adequate training for psychiatric emergencies.
The center would be replaced by a mobile crisis team, a new 16-bed inpatient unit and a detoxification program for substance abusers.
The county Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider the closure in January.
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