RECORD FORUM

Looking After Our Own

To the editor:

After over six years of clearing countless hurdles, it was a great day in Harnett County when the state granted permission for Good Hope Hospital to reinstate inpa­tient mental health beds for our residents and surrounding areas.

I was overjoyed when the for­mer county board recognized that a crucial need in our county could become a reality and voted unani­mously to support and fund this project until it was able to stand of its own.

With recent detrimental chang­es in the state’s mental health sys­tem, communities must stand up and fill a void. Good Hope Behav­ioral Health, Harnett County, Ho­rizon Health, and Sandhills Center worked jointly to make inpatient mental health beds in Harnett County a reality. Being visionar­ies, the involved entities were the first in North Carolina to take on such an endeavor.

Prior to the county’s participa­tion, Harnett County ranked sev­enth in the eight-county local man­agement entity called Sandhills Center in funding mental health needs in our own county.

With Harnett County’s assis­tance, the mental health care in the county is now being comparably funded to other counties in our re­gion. Once the program is self-suf­ficient, which should be within three years, the county should con­tinue to fund mental health care in Harnett County whether it is with Good Hope Behavioral Health or other programs in the county.

I have been amazed how quickly Good Hope has gone through the accreditation process. Shortly it will have its rights to bill Medicaid and Medicare for its services and back­bill for services already provided. It will then be able to accept invol­untary commitments, which will certainly save local law enforce­ment agencies much time and mon­ey and achieve self-sufficiency.

I would like to express my grat­itude to Harnett County, Good Hope Behavioral Health, Horizon Health, and Sandhills Center for their support in allowing us to look after our own.
Gary A. House Dunn Mr. House represents District 2 on the Harnett County Board of Commissioners and serves on the Sandhills Center Board of Directors.