GENESEE COUNTY, Mich. (WJRT) – Community input, wanted and needed.
Earlier this year the Genesee Health System passed a $9.4 million mental health millage to help fund programs county wide that will better address the mental health needs of communities.
GHS currently only receives its funding through Medicaid, but not everyone qualifies for Medicaid, there are gaps.
That $9.4 million is going to help fill those gaps so there are no qualification restrictions, obstacles or red tape getting in the way of whatever mental health services people need.
Over the next several weeks, the Genesee Health System wants to hear from the community, the voters that helped pass the $9.4 million mental health millage back in May this year.
“We want to demonstrate to the public that we were very serious when we said these are going to be the areas that are important to us, and they’re also areas that we think really needed attention,” said Dan Russell, the CEO of Genesee Health System.
He said that those areas are divided up into multiple categories.
They include: crisis intervention teams for first responders, law enforcement mental health, the court system, suicide and crisis prevention, k-12 schools and crisis stabilization.
“I at least 10 times a week have a parent from Fenton or Clio, or wherever, in here raising their hand crying, shaking because they don’t know what to do, their child is just doing outrageously crazy things, they’re going to hurt somebody — what do I do?,” said Genesee County Probate Court Judge Jennie Barkey.
Barkey is a strong advocate for the mental health millage, she said that she sees the crises people face every day, and knows not everyone has access to resources to get the help they need.
It’s why she strongly encourages people to speak up during these upcoming public input meetings.
“It will give Genesee Health Systems an opportunity to put it in perspective and focus the money on the areas that it will work the best on, but number two it will affect the most people,” said Barkey.
The first meeting is Wednesday in Clio at the Clio Area Senior Center from 6:30p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
There will be another meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 10 at the Grand Blanc Senior Activity Center from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
A third meeting will be held Wednesday, Nov. 17 at the House of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
There will also be a virtual event on Nov. 18. To resister, click here
For those who cannot attend any of the meeting times, GHS has an online survey here.
Another option is to call GHS’ Customer Services at (810) 257-3705 between 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., Monday through Friday, for a mailed copy or assistance in filling out the survey.
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