Join us for our 93rd Coffee with the Commissioner Online This Wednesday Morning at 6:30 AM Online!

 

    Join us this Wednesday at our virtual 93rd Coffee with the Commissioner event. The live stream will take        place from 6:30-7:30 a.m. To join the meeting, visit us on Facebook at  www.facebook.com/CommissionerBergosh/.                                                                               

Attendees will include County Administrator Wes Moreno, Public Safety Director Eric Gilmore, and LifeView Group CEO Allison Hill. Moreno will provide an update on county business, Gilmore will discuss public safety matters, and Hill will lead a discussion with us on the new Central Receiving and Crisis Stabilization facilities, and how both are helping the area serve citizens' mental health needs.

Residents are encouraged to send virtual questions and comments they would like to discuss with Commissioner Bergosh during the event through Facebook.

Escambia County's Central Receiving Facility will open Mid April

Today stakeholders and supporters of the regional Central Receiving Facility (CRF) in Escambia County met and toured the soon-to-open local CRF.

The facility--to assess and direct patients in mental distress-- is desperately needed locally, as currently Baker-Act patients often end up in emergency rooms of local hospitals where they exacerbate alreadly long wait times.  Additionally, if a Baker Act patient is brought to a hospital's emergency room by law enforcement officers--often the Sheriff's deputy or the Police Officer who brought the patient cannot leave until the patient is admitted to the hospital--which can take hours and hours.

At the new Central Receiving Facility operated by the LifeView Group---Law Enforcement Officers can bring Baker Act Patients to the facility and be released from the call within 7-14 minutes, according to staff who gave a tour of the facility today.  This will allow for the officers to return to duty in the field much quicker than under the current protocols.

Additionally--the CRF will allow for staff to quickly assess the patients and also to provide such individuals with an array of ongoing support services that may not be offered by a Hospital's ER staff members.

With this new facility, slated to be operational by April 15th, Florida will have about 14 such facilities total.

This arrangement, along with the associated support services, will allow the local hospitals to better serve all patients.  

Once the CRF goes live, all Baker Act patients will come first to the CRF, at which point their ultimate destination will be determined.  But in close proximity (within walking distance) to the new CRF are two facilities that can house for treatment on a short term basis as many as 65 patients.

Youth that are Baker Acted will be sent to Baptist Hospital, and the adult Baker Act patients that need to be hospitalized will go to Baptist Hospital and/or Florida West Hospital.

Mental Health continues to be a vexing issue locally--but thanks to all stakeholders who envisioned, championed, and ultimately funded and established this facilty--the processes will be smoother and more efficient for everyone involved.

Thanks to State Representative Michelle Salzman, State Senator Doug Broxson, Escambia County, Santa Rosa County, and the City of Pensacola for their contributions to the establishment of this facility.

Because not only will this facility be better for the patients in distress--it will also be better for the taxpayers, cities, and counties in our area as well financially.

Thanks to Allison Hill and Shawn Salameda for hosting today's tour--and to all who took time from their busy schedules to attend and tour this facility.

See additional pictures of the facility from today's tour--below

Join us for our 88th District 1 Coffee with the Commissioner This coming Wednesday, Oct. 18!

Join us for our 88th Coffee with the Commissioner event this coming Wednesday, Oct. 18th. The live stream will take place from 6:30-7:30 a.m. To join the meeting, visit us on our D1 Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/CommissionerBergosh/. 

Attendees this month will include County Administrator Wes Moreno, Public Safety Director Eric Gilmore, and LifeView Group CEO Allison Hill. Moreno will provide an update on county business, Gilmore will discuss public safety matters and Hill will lead a discussion with Commissioner Bergosh on the status of mental health in Escambia County, with an emphasis on the newly funded and created central receiving facility for our County.  We will also discuss other areas in our community that are impacted by a lack of proper mental health services for many who desperately need this care.

Residents are encouraged to send virtual questions and comments they would like to discuss with us during the event through Facebook, or they can be emailed to our office in advance of the session to: district1@myescambia.com

For more information, contact District 1 at 850-595-4910 or Commissioner Bergosh directly at 850-293-1459.

Learn More about LifeView here

Learn More about Allison Hill here.

On 1370 WCOA's "Real News with Rick Outzen" Later this Morning at 7:10

I've once again been invited to appear later this morning on the area's best, most influential and highest-rated morning drive news talk program--"Real News with Rick Outzen" on 1370 WCOA.  Today's topic--how the silent overdose epidemic is quietly destroying our community.....

 

I've been invited to appear later this morning on the area's #1 rated and most influential morning drive radio program, "Real News with Rick Outzen" on 1370 WCOA (the area's best, most informative local and dependable news/talk station with the best lineup of hosts).  

The topic of conversation will, according to host Rick Outzen who invited me on, be my Saturday afternoon Blog Post describing last Thursday's Mental Health Task Force meeting -- an event that received virtually no press coverage despite the fact that some alarming information was disseminated during that meeting.  Some alarming, disturbing data as well as some positive progress on some fronts was announced at the Thursday task force meeting. (One article did eventually publish 3-days later, on Sunday, in the PNJ---- after my Saturday blog post--- and only on one relatively small aspect of the discussion when the totality of the meeting's content is/was considered.

The fact of the matter is the situation with respect to overdoses is so dire in Escambia County right now--that meeting should have been live-streamed on WEAR AND PNJ's facebook page(s) --that's how important this information is to the community.

But, sadly, that meeting came and went like a redwood falling in the forest that nobody heard.  Kudos to Rick for seeing the blog post and spotlighting this issue on his popular show later this morning.  I can't wait to discuss these problems.

When the podcast is sent to me, I will link it here.

7:10AM on 1370.