BELLINGHAM, Wash. — After 14 years of hard work, Whatcom County's new crisis stabilization center has opened in Bellingham.
The center houses 32 beds, 16 for helping people detox and 16 for people struggling with mental health challenges. All are already operating at or near capacity.
"It's humbling and it's exciting to know that it's working," said 50-year veteran social worker Anne Deacon, who was critical in making the center a reality.
The short-term "triage" center is the only place like it in Whatcom County.
It's a place where adults in crisis because of drugs, mental health problems or both can come get the help they need immediately. They won't have to languish in emergency rooms or jail cells.
Police can bring someone in crisis directly to the center.
Clients can be put on a 12-hour involuntary hold while they sober up or get medications to steady them. Workers then try to find longer-term solutions for the clientele.
"It makes a big difference when people don't have to go to the emergency room," said Deacon, "and it certainly makes a big difference when someone is suffering a behavioral health crisis that they don't have to deal with law enforcement."
In recognition of a half-century of tireless work, community members officially named the new facility the Anne Deacon Center for Hope, Wednesday.
"As my husband said when he found out about it, 'You're not even dead yet!" Deacon joked to the crowd who gathered to witness the unveiling of a new sign bearing her name outside the facility.
According to the North Sound Behavioral Health Administrative Services Organization, the number of beds needed for detox in the north sound is already 22 short.
Statistics for mental health beds show a deficit of 10.
That's 32 people either in jails, emergency rooms or on the street not getting the help they need.
Just south in the Skagit County city of Sedro-Woolley, a longtime, inpatient treatment center is slated to close at the end of January, taking 144 beds with it.
"It's a dire situation. We really need to keep the heat on in terms of building more facilities," says Malora Christensen of the Whatcom County Health Department.
The good news is by 2027, North Sound Behavioral Health projects surpluses of beds.
But there is still much work to be done.
"We want to erase the stigma around getting help," said Deacon. "It's not some character defect. It is simply a disease of the brain that can be treated."
The namesake of the newest place offering hope to those suffering offers four simple words.
"Please come. Get well."