CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Commission recently received updates regarding coronavirus relief funds allocated to West Virginia Health Right and an addiction treatment organization.
Commissioners previously approved $150,000 for West Virginia Health Right’s mental health program and $200,000 for Pollen8, which provides substance abuse treatment options for women. The commission agreed to use American Rescue Plan money for the organizations.
“We actually follow up with how the funding we’ve allocated, how it’s going,” Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said during last Thursday’s meeting. “Is it being put to use? Is it making a difference? Is it doing anything?”
The commission approved $150,000 for West Virginia Health Right’s existing mental health program in September 2021; the organization has already received $75,000 for the program and it will receive the second allocation next year. According to West Virginia Health Right CEO Dr. Angie Settle, the organization did not receive any funds from sources besides the commission.
“Because of COVID and the pandemic, people that were already struggling with mental health issues, we saw a spike in that,” she told commissioners. “We had a therapist and a nurse practitioner in our main office.”
Settle said health officials knew it needed to boost its efforts to provide services to people surrounding Charleston and the elderly population.
The organization has used the funds to extend services on Charleston’s West Side and establish additional sites at community centers in Montgomery, Sissonville, Marmet and St. Albans.
“We reached out to communities to try to find a central hub,” Settle noted.
According to Settle, West Virginia Health Right has provided behavioral health services to 1,037 unique individuals because of the funds.
“This is the difference between funding something and forgetting about it and funding something and hope that something will happen, and also the difference between an agency that actually remembers how they were funded and shows taxpayers respect by coming in and telling the taxpayers, ‘This is what we did with your money,” Carper said.
Settle said the organization is accepting a new therapist as another worker leaves for another role, but she anticipates the number of patients will increase.
“I think it will just continue to grow now that we’ve got it down pat,” she said.
Commissioners approved $200,000 for Pollen8 last November. The non-profit organization provides opportunities for women in addiction treatment programs, including farming, food preparation and workplace training at Cafe Appalachia, a South Charleston restaurant.
CEO Cheryl Laws told the commission that Pollen8 had the physical resources for operations, but it did not have the funding to hire a therapist or a case manager. The organization’s office is in South Charleston.
“We had a building, and we had raised some money for renovations and everything,” she said. “When I came before you guys, our biggest issue was that we didn’t have the funding to be competitive in our wages at that point.”
Laws noted there were 90 therapist vacancies across the state at the time of the request.
“We didn’t have health insurance or anything to make us competitive to be able to hire a good therapist,” she said.
Pollen8 took its first participants in March; Laws said the organization has four people in the program.
“We’re in a unique position and our program is unique, so we’re staggering them in so that we make sure that we give quality care,” she said.
Laws continued, “We got an incredible therapist. Not only is she licensed and has the experience; she’s also in long-term recovery.”
Pollen8 has received additional grants for the program. The city of South Charleston assists the program with managing the building.
“If the state of West Virginia doesn’t look at your model and replicate it all over the state, then they truly don’t understand what they’re doing,” Commissioner Ben Salango said.
The Kanawha County Commission also approved a six-month extension of a deadline related to a $1 million allocation for a new West Virginia Health Right facility. The deal was set to expire on June 30.