With $3.8 million from the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) grant, Community Mental Health Ottawa County (CMHOC) worked towards meeting government CCBHC certification requirements, expanding mobile crisis intervention services, and reducing the rates of diabetes, obesity, smoking, alcohol and drug use in Ottawa County. This was done through marketing and communication to Ottawa County residents, purchasing medical and office supplies including computers, hosting health and wellness events and classes, training staff, building computer systems such as data bases and web hosting capabilities, collecting data and expanding the mobile crisis team. Here is a list of some of the grant achievements after one year.
Collected data on 132 residents
Guided two residents through a tobacco cessation course
Guided five residents through a diabetes course
Handed out 200 free food vouchers good for three months
Handed out 17/25 free gym memberships to the YMCA in Grand Haven
Helped two people reduce their body mass index by approximately 10%.
Analyzed the demographics of the individuals on the CMHOC board of directors to make sure they reflected the make-up of the community
Marketing and Communications
CMHOC reached out to current patients and community members with risk factors that correlate with severe mental illness, in a variety of ways and offered services to those who qualified. From the approximately 1,512 adults and 545 children served by CMHOC, the CMHOC IT department worked to identify current consumers that would benefit from the CCBHC health/wellness initiatives. The CMHOC IT department identified and CMH reached out to 401 consumers who use tobacco and another 544 obese consumers. CMHOC advertised their programs with a digital display at their primary service location. They hired a marketing firm to create literature that could be handed out at health and wellness fairs and planned to attend events throughout the county, and they formed community relationships with organizations comprised of high percentages of people in the target population demographics.
On June 9, 2022, they held a health fair in which 31 vendors participated. The fair was held at the Salvation Army in a neighborhood that CMHOC identified as having a high Hispanic population. They planned another fair, Recovery Fest, at the Holland Civic Center for September 2022, which was also in a neighborhood identified as having a high Hispanic population. CMHOC formed relationships with the Holland Free Health Clinic, Counseling Center of West Michigan, Intercare Community Health Network, Michigan State University Extension, and the Nottawasseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi to coordinate care of mental health, substance use treatment, and work as one care team for consumers.
Amazingly, CCBHC did not reach out to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) as these patients are not eligible for CCBHC services without an additional diagnosis of mental illness or severe emotional disturbance.
Purchases
CCBHC purchased blood pressure machines, scales, and tape measures to be used for collecting biometric data. They also purchased blood sugar monitors, a manual blood pressure cuff, and stethoscope. They purchased monitors, laptops, keyboards, mice, cellphones, iPads, iPad cases, office chairs, and office supplies.
Health and Wellness Events
CCBHC created weekly wellness and mindfulness groups that began meeting in October 2022. These groups focused on topics such as nutrition, skin care, flu prevention, understanding loneliness, budgeting, and oral health. CCBHC planned additional wellness events for staff and CMHOC consumers on the topics of flu prevention, vaccinations, oral hygiene, diabetes, tobacco use, and mental health awareness. They also determined that transportation was an issue for many consumers interested in attending classes.
Staff Training
CCBHC hired twelve people the first year and later worked to hire eight additional staff to fulfill the needs of the grant. Staff received a plethora of training to make treatment more effective for patients with mental illness. The majority of the staff were trained in the following areas:
American Society for Addiction Medicine (ASAM model)
National Outcomes Measurement Systems (NOMS) – a data collection system
Cultural Competency
Veteran Cultural Competency
Motivational Interviewing
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP)
Dimensions Tobacco Free Toolkit
Medication Assisted Treatment
Select staff members received specific training:
One completed a 16-week class to become a certified Community Health Worker.
Another staff member became certified as a Peer Support Specialist.
The Project Director attended the National Council for Wellbeing.
Computer Systems
CCBHC contracted with Netsmart for nearly $400,000 to provide extensive computer and webhosting related services which included building databases, building a cloud computing environment, installing software, establishing computer security, migrating data to the Netsmart Data Center, training employees on computer systems, and upgrading computer systems.
Mobile Crisis Unit and Crisis Intervention Team
The Crisis Mental Services Teams respond to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis 24 hours per day. They coordinate and work with the sheriff’s department to go on emergency calls. CCBHC expanded the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) and mobile crisis services Crisis Intervention Team which included additional crisis intervention team staff and a mental health specialist to provide therapeutic treatment.
NOMS Data Collection Results
CCBHC anticipated collecting data on 350 consumers the first year of the grant and an additional 300 the second year, but they actually collected data on 132 consumers the first year (129 adults and 3 children). They found Community Mental Health (CMH) staff thought the data collection process was too time consuming, so the CCBHC staff encouraged participation by explaining the value of collecting data. CCBHC developed forms to better collect electronic medical record (EMR) data and provided education to clients about the benefits of electronic medical records. They reached out to current consumers directly with mailers in hopes that it would lead to more people providing their data. They later began incentivizing consumers who agreed to participate in NOMS data collection with $15 gift certificates in the future.
Obesity
92% of the 132 consumers that agreed to provide data to NOMS undertook Body Mass Index (BMI) screening. BMI screening showed that many were either obese (35%) or overweight (45%). Eighteen consumers were diagnosed with diabetes. To reduce obesity and diabetes, 200 participants received free food vouchers from the Community Action House-Food Club for 3 months. CCBHC hosted cooking classes with a goal of teaching participants how to cook healthy meals, and nurses created a six-week diabetes education group. Five people participated in the diabetes education group, and they were among the 200 participants who received food club vouchers.
CCBHC purchased 25 full service 1-year memberships at the Grand Haven YMCA for customers who qualified. They handed out 17 of the 25 memberships to interested consumers. CMHOC purchased exercise equipment and offered lightweight exercise classes including walking groups, cardio drumming, and lightweight dumbbells. They are currently working to contract with a local yoga studio to provide classes for staff and consumers.
After one year, two people had a 10% reduction in their BMI.
Tobacco and Drug Addiction
CMHOC is currently treating 107 consumers with Medication Assisted Treatments for drug addictions. It was determined that 401 of CMHOC consumers use tobacco. In order to make treatment more effective for patients with mental illness, CMHOC hosted a tobacco cessation course in August 2022. Two consumers participated in the tobacco cessation course.
Summary
The $3.8 million CCBHC grant has successfully created jobs for several Ottawa County residents, and has successfully created a computer system that will enable the State of Michigan to seamlessly collect health and biometric data on Ottawa County health department patients. At the onset, the goal was to serve 700 unique people. From a participation results perspective, five patients attended a diabetes course, seventeen people received YMCA memberships, 200 people received free food, two patients lost weight, two people attended a smoking cessation course, and 107 substance users are being treated with medication. You will have to decide if this meets your definition of success.