Camino Real Crisis Center offers Mental Health Services
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2015, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
The Camino Real Crisis Center, located at 2644 Encino Park Drive, in Eagle Pass, Texas opened its doors on Friday, May 15, 2015, offering professional mental health services to Maverick County and Middle Rio Grande residents including a 14 bed in-house treatment center for patients.
The Camino Real Crisis Center is operated by the Camino Real Community Services, a Texas Non-Profit corporation, which provides comprehensive services to persons with psychiatric needs, individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities, and infants and children with developmental delays and disabilities. Camino Real Community Services serves a nine-county area including Maverick, Zavala, Dimmit, Frio, La Salle, Atascosa, McMullen, Wilson, and Karnes.
The opening of the Camino Real Crisis Center is important because Maverick County and surrounding communities will now have a permanent facility with overnight and extended stay treatment of adult mental health crisis patients.
According to Camino Real Community Services, there are currently close to 800 persons of all ages receiving some type of mental health or ailment treatment in Maverick County. There are many more persons afflicted with one type of mental health disability which are not receiving professional mental health treatment in Maverick County.
Mental illness is characterized by a temporary or persistent inability to cope effectively with life’s changes. Individuals with mental illness often experience difficulties coping in our complex society and are overwhelmed by everyday activities and stresses. With treatment, many people with mental illness can enjoy a productive, livable life in society.
On Friday, May 19, 2015, Camino Real Community Services and local public officials and civic leaders attended the official grand opening ceremony of the newly opened Camino Real Crisis Center which will provide a 24 hours/7 days a week mental health crisis center in Eagle Pass. Following the grand opening, an Open House was held to demonstrate the mental health services available and facility tour at the newly opened Camino Real Crisis Center.
Among local dignitaries attending the Camino Real Crisis Center grand opening included Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo, Eagle Pass Mayor Ramsey English Cantu, Maverick County Commissioner Roberto Ruiz, and others.
In an exclusive interview with the Eagle Pass Business Journal, Camino Real Community Services Executive Director Emma Garcia stated that the new mental health services being offered on a 24 hours/7 days a week at the Camino Real Crisis Center are extremely important because there is a great demand and need in Maverick County and surrounding counties for an in-patient mental health crisis center. Garcia noted that prior to the Camino Real Crisis Center opening in Eagle Pass, Maverick County mental health patients required they receive professional mental health services at out of town facilities such as in San Antonio and elsewhere.
“We provide a wide array of services and get funded through areas of the State Department Health Services, Department of Aging and Disabilities (DAD) is responsible for the intellectual and developmental disabilities, Department of Assistance and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) .Today we are adding to that array of services with the opening of the crisis center. We have out- patient based services where we bring in psychiatric resources, either through bringing in the physician coming out here or through tele medicine. We use a lot of tele medicine because the shortage of this resource,” said Emma Garcia.
“A person is not just going to get better by seeing a doctor. It needs to be supported with additional services. We have case managers, counselors nurses, and we have staff that is trained to assure that the person is taking the medication as prescribed by the doctor and are also working on skills development so they can understand their symptoms and start understanding when they are not feeling well so they can self- manage their life long illness,” added Garcia.
Garcia stated that through the new Camino Real Crisis Center residential unit they will be offering and assisting the mental health population with a 24/7 Crisis Hotline at 1-800-543-5750.
“When a person goes into psychiatric crisis, this place will be available for assistance of assessments, determining if this person is in need of help and provide in patient type of support, nursing , counseling and re- education so they can go back to their lives in the community,” said Garcia.
Garcia noted that persons who will be assisted at the new Camino Real Crisis Center will do so on a voluntary basis and can stay there for treatment from 3 to 14 days.
“Before we didn’t have the facility and people had to be taken or travel to the San Antonio or Laredo areas where there is in-patient capacity. This has been so greatly needed in the community. Some of our border towns, some of our remote areas do not have access to the same level of services as our urban counterparts. This is our effort to assure that here locally, people can get the service,” said Garcia.
“It’s a very scary situation for the person who is experiencing the mental health crisis. They’re vulnerable, they’re scared and then we whisk them away to a location 2 hours away from their families and this is that alternative, now there are some cases that we can’t manage here, when a person is violent, aggressive, a situation when a person has just been off their medication for too long and are at risk of harming themselves or harming another person, those persons will still be taken to an in-patient psychiatric facility. We are not a hospital. We are a crisis residential center,” added Garcia.
Garcia also stated that the facility will be available to the nine county areas served by Camino Real Community Services. “If there is a need and we have the capacity, we will make it available. We are at this time designed to service the Maverick, Dimmit and Zavala areas,” said Garcia.
“I think it is going to be a great addition to the full array of services that we already have and provide to our communities,” added Garcia.
Camino Real Crisis Center Director Rosalinda Medrano stated that the designed area will have a capacity for 18 persons with mental health issues such as Bi-Polar, Schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and other mental health problems. The new Camino Real Crisis Center residential in-patient services will be for persons of ages of 18 years and older.
Maverick County Commissioner Roberto Ruiz, who is a Board of Director of the nine-county wide Camino Real Community Services, stated that “These services have been much needed for a long time and now it’s a reality. I am grateful for this organization and all those who have participated to make it a reality. It is a true honor to be part of this organization as a board member and will continue to do so to continue serving our residents.”
All persons with mental health disabilities and their family members are encouraged to contact the Camino Real Mental Health Crisis Hotline at 1-800-543-5750 if they have any crisis or need counseling on how to handle a crisis. The Hotline is open 24 hours/7 days a week throughout the year.
