While Chief David Price is correct in informing the Village Board of his concerns regarding our community’s mental health challenges during a November meeting, the solution to the problem lies elsewhere. There are formal structures within Chautauqua County that Price can use to great effect.

First, with regard to the implied lack of services mentioned in the article, Dunkirk has four licensed outpatient mental health clinics. Fredonia has one licensed “Assertive Community Treatment “ mental health clinic, a block away from the police station. Additionally, there is a peer run service provided by the Mental Health Association in Dunkirk and also a county-wide Mobile Crisis Service that operates seven days per week when outpatient services are closed.

The chief’s point of access to advice from the above resources is via the formal planning and consulting services provided by the county government. Chautauqua County has a “Community Services Board” that advises the County Executive and legislature on mental hygiene needs of the county. The Community Services Board and the county Director of Community Services is responsible for developing annual plans to address community mental health problems, and submit said plans to Albany via the New York State Office of Mental Health. The issues identified by Chief Price are exactly the issues that warrant comprehensive planning by the aforementioned. I would urge Mayor Doug Essek to use his good offices to establish contact with the Director of Community Services and/or the county’s Community Services Board. I would further urge the village to ask the Director of Community Services whether the issues raised by Price are identified in county annual planning.

When the article of Nov. 17 mentions closing of facilities (plural), there is only one that has closed… Lakeshore Hospital inpatient mental health service (and the associated service at Lakeshore’s emergency room). It is of vital importance to the community , and to the Fredonia village government, that we address the impact of closing a 24-hour emergency mental health service based in a hospital.

The chief is correct in identifying his stretched resources when transporting patients to Jamestown. However, the planned move of Brooks-TLC Hospital to Fredonia presents a unique opportunity for the village board to use their influence with Brooks to improve the current plans for the future Fredonia facility. Brooks has indicated no plan (to date) that includes formal mental health services.

By adding an emergency room service that meets the state regulations for mental health crisis assessments, Fredonia and Dunkirk police could then safely transport mental health patients to Brooks, not Jamestown or Buffalo’s ECMC. In this writer’s opinion, Brooks Hospital has, over the years , notoriously shirked its responsibility for providing adequate mental health services at their E.R. It is time they were held to account and those with community and political influence require the new hospital to have adequate local mental health emergency services. I know our state senator and assemblyman support this.

Andrew O’Brien is the retired Director of Behavioral Health at WCA Hospital and past member of the Chautauqua County Board of Health. He is a resident of Fredonia.