Beginning this summer, adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities from across Georgia will travel to Macon for crisis services and routine medical care such as physical exams, mammograms and dentistry.
Monday, Georgia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, or DBHDD, will join River Edge Behavioral Health Center and the Mercer University School of Medicine in opening the new $23.7 million Crisis Services and Diagnostic Center at 750 Hazel St. on land owned by Macon-Bibb County behind the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center.
Automatic sliding glass doors open to what could be mistaken for an upscale hotel lobby with wings on either side. On the left is the 16-bed crisis services center and on the right is the Mercer University School of Medicine Center for IDD Care.
DBHDD Commissioner Kevin Tanner said the 34,000-square-foot facility bridges a gap in care for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who often get stuck in emergency rooms because there is nowhere else to receive care that meets their special needs.
“There’s nothing like this in the country,” Tanner said Thursday during a media tour of the facility. “This is something that other parts of the country are already calling and looking at, because nobody does it like this.”
DBHDD will refer individuals from state facilities for in-patient crisis services for up to 90 days, River Edge CEO Cass Hatcher told The Macon Newsroom during a walk-through of the facility in April.
“We can basically de-escalate them and get them acclimated to a residential setting versus institutional setting. Then we will look for a permanent house for them,” Hatcher said.
River Edge currently operates 13 group homes and plans to build two more in Macon with 60% funding from the state and the rest likely coming from local sources, he said.
Tanner thanked the Georgia Legislature for funding construction and operating costs, but said there is more work to be done to address the needs of this vulnerable population, especially those whose parents have died or can no longer care for them.
“This is a piece of the puzzle, the piece of the solution, but it’s just one piece. We have to have additional step-down placements for these individuals to be able to go back into the community, which is the ultimate goal we’re working on,” Tanner said.
The building’s design and decor with calming colors and beautiful artwork is intended to make clients, their families and caregivers feel comfortable.
“That’s one of the things we want to do, is basically to eliminate the stigma as it relates to mental health,” Hatcher said. “We want them to come into a space that’s warm and inviting, and basically that they feel safe in.”
Azar+Walsh architect Kamal Azar worked with River Edge in designing the building and exam rooms to create an atmosphere for treating patients with special needs.
“They are unique facilities. They’re not your typical doctor’s office,” Azar said.
When designing the building, Hatcher and Azar also kept staff in mind because they understand the challenges of maintaining quality personnel in this work environment.
“To be honest, people that work with these individuals, you’re going to have professionals,” Azar said. “This is not an easy job.”
Hatcher wanted to create a beautiful place where employees feel safe but “doesn’t give you that jailhouse feel.”
Dean of Mercer’s medical school, Dr. Jean Sumner, said the design is also critical to the success of treating this population as accommodations need to be made for those who can’t understand what is happening to them.
The new clinic allows doctors to take the time needed to properly diagnose and treat disabled adults.
“Once they turn 18, it’s very hard for them to find physicians that have the skill set that can take care of the complex issues that they have,” Tanner said. “They don’t understand that you’re not trying to hurt them, you’re trying to help them. So we want to create a friendly, warm, welcoming environment, that they feel comfortable, and we build trust with them. And after building trust and they’re familiar, then are able to provide the care they need, because trust is vital.”
Two calming rooms with enveloping padded walls, one that is a beach scene and the other a green forest, are equipped with sound chairs to help people de-escalate if they become agitated.
Safety is paramount with secure doors, anti-ligature designs in bedrooms and bathrooms to prevent hangings or self-harm, and weighted chairs that are nearly impossible to pick up and throw.
River Edge’s Chief Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Officer Greta O’Dell said they chose furnishings with their clients’ needs in mind.
“We wanted to also have furniture that was welcoming, has different textures, has a different look. So any individual where they’re at in their kind of stabilization, they can get something out of it,” O’Dell said. “We’ve got rocking chairs. We’ve got a sofa like they could lounge on when they return home. We have bean bag chairs.”
Shipping delays for that specialty furniture postponed the ribbon cutting by nearly a month.
An outdoor enclosed courtyard with a basketball goal gives patients a chance to enjoy the outdoors and still remain secure.
Macon was chosen for this state facility after an original site in Savannah was deemed too risky due to the danger of hurricanes and potential for coastal evacuations.
Although River Edge did not originally bid on the project, they took over when the original Community Service Board chose not to participate in the new location, Hatcher said.
The proximity to Mercer provides an opportunity for medical students to learn best practices in dealing with people in crisis and treating the intellectually disabled.
On the Crisis Services side, two-way mirrored glass allows for observation during sessions and evaluations.
“The staff will bring somebody here and show them how they treat and communicate with someone with intellectual developmental disabilities,” Hatcher said while entering the room with a large mirror along one wall. “On the other side of that is students and interns learning how to deal and cope with people who have that type of disability.”
Sumner said this project is one of the best things she’s been involved with during her career.
“We hope to develop models of care that can be replicated across the country,” Sumner said. “But exciting for the medical school is that we get to oversee this, we get to make sure the care is first class, but we also get to train our students and our residents here so that they have the skill set when they go into practice around our state to care for this population.”
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities for The Macon Newsroom and can be reached at fabian_lj@mercer.edu or 478-301-2976.
This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with The Macon Newsroom.
