KNOXVILLE — In its first two months of operation, the Behavioral Health Urgent Care Center in Knoxville has seen more than 80 patients.
The facility is an alternative to jail for people suffering from substance use problems or mental health disorders.
"They wouldn't have had access to mental health treatment if they had gone to the jail," said Jerry Vagnier, president & CEO of the Helen Ross McNabb Center. "They would have served their time and then been released, and it would have gone unnoticed and untreated."
The Knox County jail does, in fact, have staff that work with the mentally ill daily. Several employees responded to 10News after hearing Vagnier's comments.
Knox County authorities, however, say the volume of inmates with chronic problems including substance addiction and mental illness has become high and burdensome.
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BHUCC is one of the first of its kind. Of the roughly 80 people treated so far, KPD officers brought in about 85 percent of the patients. Sheriff's deputies accounted for the rest. The facility rejects many initially brought here.
"About 80 percent of the people who were referred were accepted. So that means we're doing a good job, I think, of assessing who is appropriate and who really needs to go on to jail," said Vagnier. "Probably the most common charges that folks have come in for so far is public intoxication for the substance use side, and then trespassing."
The facility faced many challenges at the beginning, working out how to run a facility based on a totally new concept. One of the challenges continues to be training officers in crisis intervention training.
"We have pledged and it's underway to train every officer, including corrections officers at the jails," said Randy Nichols, special counsel to the Knox County sheriff. "We think that BHUCC has literally and truly been able to help some people in Knox County that otherwise wouldn’t have gotten any help."
Of the people that are brought to the center, the Helen Ross McNabb Center says around 35 percent are referred to other clinics for further treatment.