Region V Systems official meets with county board

YORK – Patrick Kreifels, regional coordinator for Region V Systems, met with the York County Commissioners this past week, to make his annual report ahead of the budget-planning season.

​He thanked the county for its financial support and representation on the Region V board. Each county in the service area has a representative on that board. York County’s representative is Commissioner LeRoy Ott.
Region V covers York, Butler, Fillmore, Gage, Jefferson, Johnson, Lancaster, Nemaha, Otoe, Pawnee, Polk, Richardson, Saline, Saunders, Seward and Thayer Counties.
He explained how the agency’s mission is to support wellness through behavioral health services.
He provided statistics regarding the number of people served in the last year in each county – York County’s number of people who accessed mental health services from Region V numbered 233, which was the third highest number for a county in the service area. Gage County saw 301 people served. Lancaster County saw 3,956.
Region V partners with numerous agencies and hospitals to provide a myriad of mental health services.
They also help with access to emergency protective services and will be expanding bed days for four counties (York being one of them) by accessing additional hospitals, in addition to the crisis centers in Lincoln. Right now, there are 16 beds available for those needing emergency protective care, each day of the week. However, the crisis centers were completely full 68 days last year, he said. They will now also be partnering with the Fremont Hospital and Mary Lanning to have access to more bed days – thereby being able to serve more people in need of crisis care.
Kreifels said a meeting was held between then, the hospitals, county attorneys and members of law enforcement about this new availability. Law enforcement officers are crucial to this conversation, as they are the ones who place individuals into emergency protective custody.
“It was very important how our sheriff’s department could talk with Mary Lanning during that meeting, as they are the ones using the services,” Ott said. “And it’s pretty amazing how Region V is doing what they are doing with less and less money,” as federal and state funds are being decreased.