
Netcare’s Community Mobile Team Featured in The Dispatch

If you or someone you know is suicidal, in emotional distress or in need of substance use crisis attention, Netcare Access has trained crisis workers available
24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Live Crisis Chat
Crisis Line
Call 614.276.CARE (614- 276-2273)
24 hrs / 365 days a year
Walk In
199 South Central Avenue
24 hrs / 365 days a year
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Netcare Corporation, dba Netcare Access, will permanently end 24/7 on-site crisis services effective at 8:00 P.M. on Friday, November 25.
Netcare announced earlier this year to stakeholders and healthcare providers that due to recent staffing challenges faced by many sectors in healthcare, the on-site crisis unit was no longer a sustainable model for it to operate.
Netcare began reducing the on-site crisis services hours from 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on August 28, and then again reduced to daytime hours on September 26. This wind-down allowed Netcare to assist with the transition of the patient population to other resources in the community.
The Netcare on-site crisis services will assist its last patient on Friday, November 25 through 8:00 P.M. On the last day, patients will be transported to acute care facilities, referred to a behavioral health provider, and/or discharged to the community. For those coming to the unit after its closure, alternate resources in the community will be posted.
With the closure of on-site crisis services, Netcare will sustain 11 programs – expanding 2 of them while adding 2 more in the next 6 to 12 months. One will include a return to outpatient services after being awarded a 4-year, federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Netcare has recently expanded into answering 988 calls, texts, and chats for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Since 2018 Netcare clinicians have also been answering the Homeless Hotline, 614-274-7000, for individuals and families seeking shelter in Franklin County.
“While it was a truly tough decision to end our in-person crisis program after providing that service for more than a quarter of a century, first and foremost in our decision making was our steadfast notion that we must treat patients safely, effectively, and compassionately,” says Brian Stroh, MD, the CEO and medical director of the agency. “While the means by which we provide care will necessarily be different going forward, we look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve the patient population that has trusted us to do so for the past 50 years.”
For a copy of the press release please visit this link, Netcare Press Release – Closure of On-Site Crisis Services
Netcare has been a pivotal agency in this community for 50 years, transforming from an outpatient community health center to a comprehensive network of mental health and substance use crisis services, along the way.
For the past 27 years, we have been identified as the place you go when you or someone you care for is in a mental health or substance use crisis. We have served thousands of children, adults, and families struggling in our community, offering on-site mental health crisis and addiction services to anyone in need, regardless of their ability to pay.
With staffing challenges and a highly competitive labor market, a 24/7/365 on-site crisis service unit at Netcare is no longer a sustainable model. Netcare, with the backing of its Board of Directors, has decided to cease operations of the on-site crisis unit effective Friday, November 25. This is a difficult, but necessary, decision to ensure the safety and well-being of both the patients we serve and the staff we value and respect. This timeline will allow us to assist with the transition of our patient population to other resources in the community.
We are grateful to those that have supported our program and we are still touched by every letter, phone call, and visit we receive from former clients. Many of them repeat the same phrase: “you saved my life.”
We will continue our life-saving work by providing community-based crisis programming, residential programs including the Crisis Stabilization Unit and our residential program, Miles House, and meeting patients where they are in times of crisis. Our 24/7 Crisis Phone Line, 614-276-CARE(2273), now with the addition of the 988 Suicide Prevention Lifeline-will continue answering phone calls, texts and chats from anyone in a mental health or substance use crisis. Our ten other programs and services will still be fully operational with no changes to service hours, and new programs will be launched as we grow and adapt to the ever-changing needs of Franklin County.
Thank you to our sponsors, supporters and golfers that came out to commemorate our 40th anniversary of the Netcare Foundation Annual Golf Tournament. $27,000 was raised to benefit the staff, clients and facilities of Netcare Access.
Our Low Gross Champions were Kent Bermingham, Chad Smith, Brenton Meininger and Mike Semberg. (pictured below) Thank you to our Dining Sponsor SUN Behavioral Health and our Beverage Cart Sponsor Quantum Health.
As the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline expands local behavioral health provider has the infrastructure and expertise to answer calls.
Netcare Access has been answering crisis phone calls since 1996 when its 24/7 Emergency Response Service (ERS) was established. The program is staffed by licensed clinicians ready to answer urgent questions and connect the caller to local resources. In some instances, if the caller is in an active crisis, the clinician will dispatch a ride to pick up the individual and bring them to Netcare for services.
The ERS program has expanded in the last 5 years. An online chat feature had been added on the Netcare Access website (www.netcareaccess.org) and partnering with the Community Shelter Board to answer the Homeless Hotline 24-hour crisis line, (614-274-7000), for individuals and families in need of housing and shelter options in Columbus and Franklin County.
In 2021 Netcare answered, managed, de-escalated, and linked the following:
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a national-based suicide prevention network founded by the Substance Abuses and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). In 2020 the Federal Communications Commission ordered telecommunication carriers to assist in implementing the new toll-free, three-digit 9-8-8 number, which was designed to be easier to remember and use than the current 1-800-373-TALK hotline. All phone service providers will be required to direct all 988 calls to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by July 16, 2022.
Netcare Access began answering 988 calls on February 10. All calls are answered by licensed social workers and counselors trained in the Lifeline model. Currently, Netcare has 33 clinicians on staff to field inquiries from the crisis phone line, online chat, Homeless Hotline, and 988. All are answered 24 –hours a day, 7 days a week.
Marianne Robbins has been an Emergency Response Service clinician for more than 20 years. She is excited to be taking on the new 988 service. “What’s interesting about the 988 program is we use tools that they (the caller) may already have without the need to involve other first responders,” said Robbins. “We allow them to come up with their own ideas of getting themselves to safety. We are just the guide, utilizing the tools to keep them safe,” said Robbins.
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It’s no secret that 2020 brought about change in a big way. It’s not only been about COVID, but the turmoil of long-overdue discussions on equality, justice, and even basic principles of fairness.
It’s been one of our workplaces flooding twice inside of a month, of another of our buildings being in the middle of protests, and of the changing dynamics of crisis care in Franklin County.
What hasn’t changed, though, is the dedication of staff who walk through our doors, day after day and night after night, providing the best care that they can in a system that is one of the most complex in American healthcare.
To view the report, click here.