On Nov. 3, Ohio voters approved all of the millage requests of the mental health and addiction services boards that were on the ballot. Locally, some 63 percent of the voters of Defiance, Fulton, Henry and Williams counties supported the Four County ADAMhs Board’s request for a five year, seven-tenths mill renewal.
“I would like to thank the voters for that support,” Tonie Long, the board’s CEO, said. “We don’t take that support for granted and are grateful for it.”
During her report to the board, Long noted that staff have been and will continue to meet with the service providers who receive those funds to ask whether ADAMhs Board funding is meeting their clients’ needs or if there are any needs that aren’t being met.
She explained while state and local funding remains stable it’s important to make sure those dollars are meeting the community’s needs. “We’ll use provider input as the board considers the best allocation of those funds to meet the needs of our residents.”
Several contracts were approved by the board at its November 12 meeting.
The board approved a $35,000 contract with Triangular Processing to provide non-medical client transportation that board funded providers request. This transportation would provide clients with up to three round trip rides a month for personal needs such as shopping or visiting friends and relatives.
Long explained that the program had been grant-funded at a higher level that allowed more monthly trips for several years; however, that funding recently ended. According to the providers who used this service for clients who otherwise had no way to leave home for personal needs, the clients tended to maintain better health.
The board also approved two contracts to implement a $31,000 safer communities grant that it had recently received.
Some $18,000 was approved for OhioGuidestone, Maumee Valley Guidance Center, Recovery Services of Northwest Ohio and the Center for Child and Family Advocacy to each select three staff members to become certified in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy, which is effective in treating persons who are recovering from trauma.
The board also approved a $13,000 contract with Prevention Awareness Support Services, based in Lima, to provide group and individual crisis intervention training, managing school crisis training, and critical incident stress management training for law enforcement officers throughout the four county area.
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