WILMINGTON — In October, the state allocated $835 million from its budget to increase access to behavioral health across North Carolina. Of that, $22 million is being put toward the opening of community crisis centers and peer respite needs.
READ MORE: County asked to contribute $3.4M to The Harbor’s potential new location, a collaboration with LINC
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced last week the money will fund five crisis centers for adults, including one in Wilmington. According to DHHS spokesperson Hannah Jones, its location has yet to be determined.
“The new 16-bed adult facility-based crisis center in New Hanover will allow region five to exceed its target,” Jones wrote in an email to Port City Daily.
An exchange between county officials confirm it’s money already allocated to The Harbor — $3.7 million from last year’s state budget.
New Hanover County social services director Tonya Jackson sent an email to assistant county manager Tufanna Bradley asking about the state’s announcement.
“I did reach out to a couple of my peer directors on Thursday of last week and they also had no knowledge of this happening,” Jackson wrote in an April 29 email. “I will continue to share with you as information is shared with me.”
Bradley responded: “I found out it is related to the funds that the state gave to Trillium and Trillium gave to RHA for the Robinhood project.”
Asheville-based RHA Services and Trillium — a healthcare management company that works in a 28-county region to disburse money from state and state-allocated federal resources — previously worked together to operate The Harbor. The detox and crisis center was open for a decade, serving upward of 1,800 people annually, before its 17th Street location shuttered.
The Harbor closed in 2021; it was located on county-owned land before being conveyed to New Hanover Regional Medical Center Novant and was allowed to operate there until the center could find another space. However, that didn’t happen by the time the hospital wanted to move forward on plans to tear down the building and create a parking lot.
Trillium is partnering again with RHA and local nonprofit Leading Into New Communities (LINC) to relaunch The Harbor. The center will treat behavioral and mental health issues for underinsured and uninsured patients, with LINC operating transitional housing onsite for newly released incarcerated individuals.
The county has also put money toward the facility, $1.49 million to purchase the former Sherwood Manor Rest Home at 1605 Robin Hood Road. Two years ago, Trillium, RHA and LINC estimated the total to upgrade the Robin Hood building would be $3.4 million, but that doubled to $6.1 million by the beginning of 2023.
Trillium dedicated $1.5 million to bring the property up to state standards and LINC committed $900,000.
According to county spokesperson Alex Riley, the county budgeted $3.7 million from the Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Fund — as created from the hospital sale of New Hanover Regional Medical Center to Novant. However, money from that pot will no longer need to be accessed, due to the state’s allocation covering the county’s portion instead.
CATCH UP: Hospital sale money to cover The Harbor upfit, county to purchase its $1.5M building
“To date, the county has spent $1,838,875,” Riley said, inclusive of the building purchase. “The additional costs have been related to the design of the renovations.”
The Harbor’s design for the renovation is nearly complete and a construction team is reviewing contract documents before putting it out to bid, Riley added.
“The construction portion of the project will be ready for advertisement upon the completion of this review and any needed changes being made,” he said. “We anticipate we will be bringing forward an award of contract for our Board of County Commissioners to review and approve this summer.”
Once open, the 13,000 square-foot facility will consist of 20 rooms and include 16 beds, offering services 24 hours a day. The addition of these beds will meet the state’s goal of having 48 beds in facility-based crisis centers available in region five.
The state is grouped into six regions using data from the Local Management Entity/Managed Care Organizations’ patterns of care map. Its target includes having one bed for every 24,500 people; region five envelops 15 counties, including the tri-county region, with a population of a little more than 1.1 million people.
This region already has a 16-bed adult facility-based center in Robeson County and another 16-bed facility under construction in Cumberland County.
The state’s goal in opening the crisis-based facilities is to reduce the burden on emergency rooms and hospitals for short-term inpatient mental health stabilization and substance-use detox. Its $22 million investment will bring 60 beds for adults and 44 beds for children. This increases capacity by 20% for community crisis stabilization statewide.
The Harbor will add to North Carolina’s 24 facility-based crisis centers, located in 22 other counties. By early fall, the goal is to begin construction on The Harbor, suspected to take a year to complete.
[Ed. note: The article has been updated after press to clarify the former location of The Harbor and that it was demolished to create a parking lot.]
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