56 SUMMER 2022 | WWW.SHAKER.LIFE The Cuyahoga County hospital system had already been expanding its mental health and addiction services throughout the region, including a new $42-million behavioral health facility and psychiatric urgent care center opening in Cleveland Heights this fall. “We’ve seen the impact of mental health and the complications and complexity of it when it occurs in the community and the community doesn’t have the right tools,” says Julia Bruner, MetroHealth senior vice president of behavioral health and correctional medicine. “We know that if the right interventions had been put in place prior to any of these events occurring, the outcome for that patient and that family would have been completely different. The needs are greater than they were just three years ago.” Connecting Shaker with Recovery Resources is another step in that ongoing strategy, she says. “I’m hoping that this is something we can expand across Northeast Ohio. Recovery Resources understands the needs of the community and the needs of the individual outside of clinical care,” Bruner says. “They understand housing and employment. They understand prevention. It’s the right fit for them to be involved in this type of program.” Amistadi, who has been at Recovery Resources since 2015, brings that group’s philosophy to the Shaker pilot and the residents she’s met. Some of them dial 911 several times in the same week. But the crises they are calling about often disguise the underlying issues, she says. Amistadi builds rapport with people and then tries to find them the right help, whether it’s a mental or physical health provider, an addiction treatment center, or even housing. Making an Impact Above: Amistadi confers with Officer Martin Dunn and Firefighter/Paramedic Olivia Ventura.
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