On Friday, Sept. 22, SummitStone representatives gathered with community partners and stakeholders to celebrate the long-anticipated ribbon cutting for Larimer County’s Acute Care facility at the new Longview Campus. More than 300 people joined us on a beautiful morning to come together in a like-minded spirit dedicated to the advancement of behavioral healthcare in our community. The crowd included County Commissioners, other elected officials, the Health District, UCHealth, County staff, SummitStone employees, and community members who all have worked so hard and collaboratively to make this a reality.
We are so fortunate to live in an area where the citizens believe in the importance of behavioral healthcare and were willing to back that belief by voting to approve a 20-year tax initiative to fund this project. Through a competitive process, SummitStone was chosen to provide the services that include:
- 24/7 behavioral urgent care with 8 exam rooms
- Onsite pharmacy and lab
- 4 clinical bed-based units with capacity to serve up to 40 individuals
- 2 withdrawal management
- 2 crisis stabilization
- Intensive case management and care coordination
- Discharge with safety planning and follow-up
- Supported transition to on-going care
This facility will allow us to provide services locally, where previously folks had to leave our community to seek this level of care. It is truly a shining example of where people can come to recover.
I had the honor of speaking at the event and was thrilled to announce that we are 75% staffed for when the doors open in December. I shared my excitement to finally see the facility come to fruition – from an initial concept, to the ballot initiative, to a funded project, to blueprints, and now a beautiful state-of-the-art, brick-and-mortar building.
I also shared my personal experience of having family members receiving behavioral healthcare. It is comforting for me to now know that when someone’s mother or someone’s sibling, daughter or son walk through that door they will have the impeccable level of care I would want my own family members to have. They will not only receive the best care possible, they will receive it with dignity, respect and compassion.
I am so proud that SummitStone is playing a cornerstone role in this facility. It has truly been a model of how different entities across the community can work together collectively to make vast improvements for the people of Larimer County when they may be experiencing their darkest moments. This demonstrates our Mission and Core Values in action: We serve our communities by fostering trust, empowering recovery and inspiring hope, and we are truly Stronger Together!
Yours in good health,
Michael G. Allen, MBA, LCSW, CAS