Our new center is OPEN for service!
ISK staff and board members join CEO Jeff Patton (with scissors) at the ribbon cutting event for the new Behavioral Health Urgent Care & Access Center, July 7, 2023.
At noon on Monday, July 10, 2023, Integrated Services of Kalamazoo opened the doors to its new Behavioral Health Urgent Care & Access Center at 440 W. Kalamazoo Ave., Kalamazoo, Mich., 49007. ISK held a ribbon cutting and open house on Friday, July 7.
Offering same-day access and urgent care treatment for mental health and substance use disorders, the center will be open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Friday, July 21, increasing to 24 hours a day, seven days a week on Monday July 24. The site will be Kalamazoo County’s first behavioral health urgent care and access center, and one of very few across the state of Michigan.
The 7,900 square foot building houses nine treatment rooms, offices, waiting rooms, a conference room, reception area, lobby, and a security office. A police/ambulance entrance allows the center to serve as an alternative to a hospital emergency department for people experiencing behavioral health crises. An estimated 68% of crisis calls could be resolved without using an emergency department, according to ISK, and the center is expected to take some pressure off local hospitals.
ISK’s Same-Day Access Center, where adults can seek non-urgent walk-in behavioral health services, also will be located at the new site at 440 W. Kalamazoo Ave., starting July 10. Same- Day Access was formerly housed at 615 E. Crosstown Parkway Kalamazoo, MI 49001.
The Behavioral Health Urgent Care & Access Center is located near areas with a high concentration of individuals receiving behavioral health services, including those experiencing homelessness, according to ISK CEO Jeff Patton and Dianne Shaffer, ISK’s Chief Project Officer.
It’s easily walkable from nearby shelters and the city’s downtown area. ISK officials hope that by offering quick access to mental health professionals, an alternative to emergency departments, and the opportunity to be connected with other services, the new Behavioral Health Urgent Care and Access Center will result in better outcomes for people in crisis.
The Urgent Care Center is open to anyone struggling with an urgent behavioral health problem. It serves people of all ages and incomes, with or without insurance coverage. Anyone in crisis may walk in or call 269-373-6000.
The center is not a medical healthcare facility, ISK officials emphasize. People needing medical intervention for something like an overdose, detox, withdrawal symptoms, stroke, chest pain, cuts/bleeding, etc., should call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. The center will not be able to prescribe medications or refills.
Issues the Urgent Care Center Can Address:
• Mental health crises
• Intrusive or disturbing thoughts
• Suicidal thoughts
• Thinking of harming yourself or others
• Depression, anxiety
• Panic attacks, severe emotional distress
• Problems with substance use
• Acute grief reactions
• Trouble managing daily activities due to mental health or substance use
Services Offered:
• Crisis stabilization
• Screening for services
• Referrals to providers for treatment
• Safety planning
• Connections to community resources
• Compassionate listening
Funding for the $5 million center came from several sources, including local philanthropic organizations (like the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation) as well as American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded to ISK by Kalamazoo County.
At the center’s groundbreaking in October 2022, ISK CEO Patton said, “We believe this coordinated and comprehensive behavioral health urgent care and access system will reduce the need to deploy law enforcement and emergency medical services to intervene in mental health crises. This will also decrease medically unnecessary community hospital emergency department use and public safety detainment for persons experiencing mental health crises.”
