Rosecrance hosted representatives from the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services for a tour of several Rosecrance locations on August 10, 2017.
HFS Director Felicia Norwood, Medicaid Director Teresa Hursey, and Legislative Affairs Chief Shawn McGady met with Rosecrance President/CEO Philip Eaton and Rosecrance Vice President of Public Policy Mary Ann Abate, touring Rosecrance’s Triage and Crisis Residential Center as well as its other substance abuse and mental health treatment centers in Rockford.
Rosecrance Administrator of Adult Community Mental Health Anne Fridh explained the purpose of the Triage Center, which is to provide an immediate response to individuals experiencing a psychiatric crisis. The goal is to avoid unnecessary hospitalization or incarceration of individuals in crisis by providing rapid assessment, stabilization and referral to the appropriate level of care. While many clients of the Triage Center go home with follow-up services at the Rosecrance Ware Center, others are referred for hospitalization or seamlessly transferred to a short-term placement in the Rosecrance Crisis Residential Unit.
“Sixty percent of Triage clients are provided crisis counseling, their symptoms are stabilized, and they are able to go home with a crisis follow-up plan. About 25% require additional stabilization care and are placed in our short-term crisis residential program,” said Fridh. The remaining clients are psychiatrically hospitalized or visit a hospital emergency room due to urgent medical needs.
Rosecrance is grateful to the community for its commitment to helping maintain this program as State funding wavered during the budget impasse. We are very grateful to State legislators for helping to restore funding in the recently approved budget for this important community resource that serves some of the most vulnerable people in our region.