Hancock County has been awarded a $550,000 federal Bureau of Justice grant to expand services at a local residential center that provides stabilization and recovery support services for those with mental health and substance use disorders.
The 3-year grant comes through the Bureau’s Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program. The Board of Hancock County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services will administer the grant, and contract with the Family Resource Center of Northwest Ohio to implement it along with other community partners.
FRC operates the Steady Path Stabilization Center at 2627 Crystal Avenue in Findlay. The center opened in 2022 and is a 24/7 monitored, short-term, step-down, and diversion residential home that provides a safe place for stabilization services for individuals with persistent mental health concerns and those with co-occurring substance use disorders.
Precia Stuby is director of the ADAMHS Board of Hancock County.
In addition to mental health services, Steady Path offers programming designed to help transition individuals from higher levels of care, such as psychiatric hospitalization and incarceration, to supportive outpatient services
The federal grant was sought to help address a growing need for stabilization services in the community for those who have encountered the justice system and are leaving the county jail or other custodial settings. The grant will help fund the Steady Path Forward Project, a collaboration between ADAMHS, FRC and criminal justice partners, including the Findlay Police Department, Hancock County Sheriff’s Office and Hancock County Adult Probation.
National estimates indicate that over half of all individuals in jail or prison have a mental health problem and are likely to stay locked up longer and return to incarceration more often.
Locally, about one in every six inmates at the Hancock County jail are on psychotropic medications and about one in two inmates have been returned to jail four or more times. Only about 30 percent of inmates are first-time offenders.
The objectives of the grant, which builds upon a 2020 grant that supported the establishment of the Steady Path, are three-fold: to enhance and expand the center; expand the capacity to identify, treat and support the recovery of individuals at the “intersection of justice and mental health,” and grow existing justice and mental health collaboration programs “across people and places at any point in the criminal justice system.”
Since Steady Path opened last year, it has received 398 referrals with 235 enrollments completed. With the new grant, officials hope to serve at least 150 individuals at the Steady Path over the next 36 months.
Blanchard Valley Hospital, a division of Blanchard Valley Health System, has been awarded on Newsweek’s list of America’s Best-In-State Hospitals 2024. This prestigious award is presented by Newsweek and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. The awards list was announced on October 25, 2023, and can currently be viewed on Newsweek’s website.
“Blanchard Valley Hospital is honored to recognized on Newsweek’s list of America’s Best-In-State Hospitals 2024,” said Myron D. Lewis, president and chief executive officer of BVHS. “Our associates and providers work hard to provide excellent care every day, and are honored to be recognized for their passion and commitment to our patients and community.”
Proximity and access are of the utmost importance when choosing between top hospitals. The America’s Best-In-State Hospitals 2024 ranking was created to identify the top hospitals at the state level. Hospitals from all US states were eligible for the ranking and included in the nationwide survey. The 25 states with the most hospitals according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) were surveyed individually. The remaining states were grouped into four regions: Northeast, Midwest, West, and South. Leading hospitals from these states were considered accordingly. Four data sources were used for the evaluation:
Nationwide online survey: Over 10,000 medical professionals (doctors, hospital managers, and healthcare workers) were asked to recommend the best hospitals (in and out of state) based on their expertise.
Quality Metrics Data: Data from CMS available for Mortality, Safety, Readmission, Experience, Timely & Effective Care was considered.
Patient Experience: Cleanliness of the hospitals and quietness, communication of the nurses/doctors and staff responsiveness, care transition, medicine communication, and discharge information.
PROMS Implementation survey: To account for the increasing importance of Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs).
To learn more about the services at Blanchard Valley Health System, please visit bvhealthsystem.org.
The Findlay Police Department said a man was taken into custody after shooting a gun into the ground near people.
Police were dispatched to the 200 block of Edith Avenue at around 12:15 Thursday morning on the report of shots being fired in the area.
Officers began checking the area and then another victim called police and said he had been shot at by a man and that they saw the man enter a shed behind a residence in the 200 block of Lester Avenue.
Police checked the shed and no one was located inside.
Contact was made with a resident at 224 Lester Avenue and police say he eventually admitted to shooting a pistol into the ground at the victims.
Police said the suspect, Martin Munoz, 54, was taken into custody for aggravated menacing and discharging a firearm within city limits.
State Route 568 will be closing for construction of the pedestrian bridge portion of the Blanchard River Greenway Trail extension project.
The City of Findlay says the closure will go from Bright Road to County Road 236 beginning on Monday, October 30th and lasting for approximately 45 days.
A suggested detour is included in the Facebook post from the city below.
The pedestrian bridge will be located north of the existing State Route 568 bridge and take people over the Blanchard River.
This extension of the Greenway Trail will take it to County Road 236, and in the future, the city says it wants to extend the Greenway Trail from County Road 236 out to Riverbend Recreation Area.
Anyone with questions about the project may call the City of Findlay Engineering Department at 419-424-7121.
Findlay High School Head Principal, Meg Simon, was selected as one of Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan’s distinguished young leaders in the 20 Under 40 ceremony held October 24, 2023 in Toledo.
“I’m so honored to be representing Findlay City Schools, Findlay High School, and the Findlay community with this recognition,” said Simon.
“I am proud to call Findlay home. I’m grateful to be recognized for doing work I love and serving a community I love.”
Dr. Andy Hatton, Findlay City Schools Superintendent, shared that “Mrs. Simon is the epitome of servant leadership to our students, staff and this great community. Meg has a clear vision for Findlay High School and builds trust through transparent collaboration with her team. I’m so proud that a leader in public education was recognized for this incredible distinction.”
Nominees are asked to submit a detailed profile, and then are invited to attend the recognition ceremony. Past nominees and community leaders make up the panel of judges who select the top 20 recipients, and winners are not revealed until the ceremony.
Over 150 young leaders were nominated for this year’s award. Findlay City Schools is proud to have administrators like Mrs. Simon leading staff and students, and truly impacting the Findlay community.
Further information, as well as a recording of the ceremony, can be found at the 20 Under 40 website, here.
It’s time to purge your home of unneeded or unused medications as part of Hancock County’s ongoing effort to combat medication misuse.
Medications and prescriptions can be safely disposed of at a drop-off location in the Findlay Municipal Building parking lot on West Crawford Street from 8 to noon on Saturday, October 28th which is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.
People can simply drive in, drop off their old medications for safe disposal and go on their way.
The Findlay Police Department says, not only will you be cleaning out those cluttered cabinets but you’ll be doing so in a safe manner.
Many people flush their medications, leading to environmental concerns.
Others dispose of medications in the trash or leave them in their house enabling people to find them and abuse them.
People who can’t make it to the medication collection on Saturday can drop off their medications anytime in the medication collection drop boxes available in the lobby of the police department, sheriff’s office and municipal building.
The 2023 Cops & Kids Findlay Halloween Parade was held Tuesday night along South Main Street.
A lot of people lined the street as dozens of floats went by with people tossing candy to the kids on a warm fall evening.
Video of the parade can be seen below.
The parade is a fundraiser for the Fort Findlay FOP Lodge 20 Foundation and all proceeds go to programs that help bolster positive interaction between youth and law enforcement.
The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office says a man with an active arrest warrant exited out a second-story window in an attempt to elude deputies.
The sheriff’s office says deputies responded to an address in the Dold subdivision in Liberty Township on Tuesday morning to perform follow-up on an ongoing investigation from the previous night.
The follow-up included an interview with a man who had an active arrest warrant out of Tiffin/Fostoria Municipal Court for theft by deception.
The sheriff’s office says, when deputies arrived at the address, the man, Garland M. Breitigam, 34, exited a second-floor window, jumped off a porch roof and took off running.
After a short foot pursuit, Breitigam was caught and arrested.
A deputy and Breitigam were treated at Blanchard Valley Hospital for injuries.
The sheriff’s office says a charge of obstructing official business will be pursued against Breitigam and the original investigation is continuing.
