A group of organizations in McLean County set out to bring a first of its kind wraparound youth health care hub to downtown Bloomington in 2024. Lifelong Access, Chestnut Health Systems and the Regional Office of Education got one step closer to making the continuum of care initiative a reality recently when a state grant helped them secure funding for a building.
Now, the leaders at the helm of the project want to continue innovating by exploring opportunities to bring a youth behavioral health urgent care center to the county.
“It's a place to open 23 hours for drop-offs and those youth in behavioral health crisis that needs a place to assess and figure out what the next move is,” said Puneet Leekha, Chestnut’s chief operating officer, general counsel and incoming CEO, following a Tuesday news conference where Gov. JB Pritzker and other elected officials spoke.
It’s also meant to act as an alternative to traditional emergency departments.
Getting a youth mental health emergent care facility in McLean County has been a point of interest for providers and the county at large for nearly a decade, but requirements for operating that type of facility have hindered real progress.
That’s one of the reasons the county made its Triage Center exclusive to adults, and why the McLean County Center for Human Services, which took over and rebranded it as the Behavioral Health Urgent Care, hasn’t added a youth component.
“There are some that do it,” said Leekha, adding that Chestnut, Lifelong Access and the ROE are consulting those organizations. “We're trying to figure out what the most efficient, economical way to get that done.”
While there are no guarantees youth mental health urgent care will come to fruition, Lifelong Access interim CEO Rebecca Brennan said it would provide an important addition to area services.
“It's definitely a need in our community,” she said.
Leekha added it would round out some of what the groups are looking to achieve in their offerings.
Celebrating progress
Meanwhile, the leading groups are still celebrating the $21.7 million state grant that allowed them to purchase the old Pantagraph building at 301 W. Washington St., which they will transform for their purposes.
“We're so pleased to be able to offer these services to this group of folks, this youth and their families who really need them, and to boot, just to be part of the downtown revitalization is just cherry on top,” Leekha said.
The building provides roughly 65,000 square feet of space for the three leading organizations and any partners to use, including groups such as Midwest Food Bank that already have signed on.
For Lifelong Access, it would be the first outlet in Bloomington, which Brennan said the nonprofit is looking forward to.
“We're excited to be still here in this location, in Normal, but to also now be in Bloomington, where we can offer our programming to more individuals that need those services, and have it in a space that's just easy to access for all people in the community,” she said. [Lifelong Access’ current facility is in northeast Normal on Jacobssen Drive.]
Services within the center are all currently offered in the community, but the co-location of offerings — counseling, dental care, education and food services — would be new. It’s also the entire purpose of the program: to be wraparound.
A larger state initiative
Pritzker noted the local project received funding because it aligns with a larger state effort to expand access to health care. The state and Illinois Capital Development Board established the Healthcare Transformation Capital [HTC] Investment Grant Program in 2021.
As part of capital grants this year, 13 organizations — including Lifelong Access — received roughly $200 million total for health initiatives and services.
“I just want to emphasize how vitally important that kind of work is, because there are too many people that don't have health care coverage or don't know how to get it, but fall ill and then just need services right away, and so having a place for them to go, in a hospital that will accept them means an awful lot,” Pritzker said.
Renovation projections for the newly acquired building in Bloomington are estimated at 12-24 months, Leekha with Chestnut said. Although, he added, he’s hopeful people will seek out services when needed at any of the current locations.
