ADAMHS Board receives certification

0

By Wayne Allen

[email protected]

The Alcohol, Drug, Addiction, Mental Health Services Board (ADAMHS) of Adams, Lawrence and Scioto Counties recently received a three-year Culture of Quality peer certification, and long-time board member Charles Gorman retired after years of service.

Prior to his retirement, Gorman had served on the ADAMHS board for eight years. According to released information, Gorman provided many years of service leadership to the board and was a very active board member from Adams County.

Susan Shultz, executive director of the ADAMHS Board, said Culture of Quality certification was something the board sought in part because of its intensive evaluation of board operations.

According to released information, “The Culture of Quality (COQ) program is a collaborative effort developed by the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities and its member boards designed to enhance quality, promote statewide consistency and demonstrate accountability of Board operations while retaining the autonomy of each local Board area.”

The COQ is a voluntary process evaluation ADAMHS Boards can go through that examines board operations, when compared to 140 developed standards.

“The results of these efforts have resulted in well-organized and competent Board operations. The partnership between the Board and agencies should be praised and celebrated as the opening of a mental health, alcohol and drug crisis and detox center provides a shining example of the Board’s ability to work cooperatively to address area needs.” the peer review report states.

Shultz credited her staff for the hard work that was put into the evaluation process. Some of the much successful collaboration the board has been involved with includes, the implementation of a crisis services back into the community in 2014.

“We have crisis services and a crisis unit that’s being reborn within our community. This would not be possible without the help of the ADAMHS Board and their leadership in recreating the crisis center hotline and the crisis center that’s about to get started again,” said Ed Hughes, with The Counseling Center. “We’ve been without this service for a couple of years now and it’s been difficult to serve people in crisis and to serve them in any comprehensive way.”

The crisis center is a 10-bed facility serving residents of Scioto, Lawrence and Adams counties.

The ADAMHS Board Southeast Collaborative was involved in funding an expansion of Project Dawn that started in the Portsmouth Health Department. Project Dawn (Deaths Avoided with Naloxone) originated in the Portsmouth City Health Department in 2013. Scioto County was chosen by the Ohio Department of Health to be Ohio’s first Community-Based Naloxone Overdose Reversal Project. Shultz announced that funding has been made available to provide Project Dawn training and programs in 21 Ohio Counties.

The ADAMHS Board is located at 919 7th Street in Portsmouth. For more information about the ADAMHS Board and the services offered visit, www.adamhsals.org or call (740) 354-5648.

Wayne Allen can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 1933 or on Twitter @WayneallenPDT

Long time board member retires

No posts to display