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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