Mental health isn't officially part of Colorado's emergency response. Lawmakers want to change that.
At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Colorado mobilized its State Emergency Operations Center to respond to the public health emergency.
The SEOC — with the help of Federal Emergency Management Agency funding — worked with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to expand health care capacity, launch dozens of community testing sites and process countless COVID-19 tests, and administer and distribute millions of coronavirus vaccines.
Community mental health centers have also launched programs to help people deal with the psychological effects of the pandemic.
Some lawmakers and advocates took inspiration from those efforts and offered up a novel concept: state-funded public resources, built into local or statewide response to emergencies, that could help address Coloradans’ urgent mental health and substance use-related needs triggered by disease outbreaks, tragedies and natural disasters.
Sponsored by Reps. Lisa Cutter, D-Dakota Ridge, and Perry Will, R-New Castle, along with Sen. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood, House Bill 21-1281 would create a community behavioral health disaster preparedness and response program.
Read more: https://coloradonewsline.com/2021/05/26/mental-health-isnt-officially-part-of-colorados-emergency-response-lawmakers-want-to-change-that/