Progress on the New Guilford County Behavioral Health Center must be going well because the county now has an official ribbon-cutting date – June 12.
The project is the cornerstone of Guilford County’s public-private effort to completely reshape the way mental health services are provided in the county. Guilford County has teamed up with Cone Health and Sandhills Center – the entity that handles mental health care administration in the county – in an effort to provide the overhauled service centered at the Guilford County Behavioral Health Center that’s been under construction for about two years.
The new Guilford County Behavioral Health Center is in the Maple Street Professional Center at 931 Third St. in Greensboro.
Commissioner Kay Cashion, who is currently the board’s main point person regarding mental health issues, said it was nice to be able to announce a date.
“We did set a date for the ribbon-cutting,” Cashion said. “Saturday, June 12, for 10 a.m.”
The fact that a date has been set shows a good deal of faith in the progress of the project. However, Cashion also warned that, when it comes to large construction projects such as this, something unforeseen can always happen.
“Now, who knows, that may change – but that’s the date we’ve set right now,” she said of June 12. “That’s what we’re going for at the present.”
The county has been able to complete the project despite a $7 million hole in the project’s budget when Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the state budget that included that funding. Project backers felt at one time that the state money was almost a certainty, but the state legislature which included the funding and Cooper were never able to reach an agreement on the 2019 budget, so it never became law.
Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston said this week that the county is hopeful the state will eventually come through with that funding.
Is there someone we can learn more about this project and the benefits it’ll bring to the community?
At one time Guilford was in the mental health business, but it changed several years ago by ending the local control of mental health to a regional health centered entity. Talk to the people who used to work for the old County mental health department and they’ll tell you why it was abolished. My guess is, it was all about money and politics.