Regional Assessment Center

Solvista Health Regional
Assessment Center

Recovery Happens—
With Your Help

Located on the Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center campus in Chaffee County, the Regional Assessment Center (RAC) will support addiction recovery and behavioral health through crisis walk-in, acute treatment, respite and more. Our nearly 15,000-square-foot building has been uniquely designed to deliver safe, evidence-based care with compassion, dignity and hope.

Make a Difference

Why Colorado Needs the RAC

There is an addiction and mental health crisis in Colorado, and around the United States. As Colorado Attorney General Philip J. Weiser has noted, “More people have died in the United States of drug overdoses — mostly opioids — than died in the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, combined.”

The rapid rise in these types of illnesses is why we are building southern Colorado’s first clinically monitored residential withdrawal management and substance use disorder treatment center. Currently, people must travel as far as 100 miles to access these vital services. The RAC will give people the opportunity to recover closer to home.

Support Our Work View Project Updates

RAC Groundbreaking Event

In 2017 more than
670,000
Coloradoans
needed treatment for drug or
alcohol use but did not receive it
- 2017 Colorado Health
Access Survey

13,000
square miles in Colorado of
unmet need

The RAC is
projected to provide
60% cost savings
to Medicaid and public payers due
to reduced avoidable emergency
department utilization and
inpatient psychiatric
hospitalizations

According to CDC,
Colorado ranks
5th highest
in the country for
suicide rates

78% of Solvista
Health clients
are enrolled in Medicare or
Medicaid

Overdose deaths in
Colorado have
nearly tripled
since 1999
- Colorado Health Institute,
Feb 2018

Why Now?

Learn why the need for the RAC is so great today

What is driving the RAC initiative? There are critical services and supports currently missing in our local continuum of care.
This facility will give individuals a chance for a full life in recovery by:

Integrating Services

Co-locating and integrating high acuity mental health and substance use disorder services under one roof, all available 24/7/365.

Providing Comprehensive Care

Giving hope to individuals in need through compassionate, kind and dignified care.

Relocating Care

Interrupting costly recidivism in hospital emergency departments and jails.

Curbing Costs

Bending the cost curve substantially for both public and private payers.

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Will You Join Us?

Enable a brighter future for southern Colorado

The Regional Assessment Center will offer a cost-effective, local, community-designed solution to better support individuals with acute behavioral health needs. But to turn this vision into reality, we need your support.

Give the Gift of Healing

About Solvista Health

Who We Are

Get to know Solvista Health

For nearly 60 years, Solvista Health has delivered healthcare services to rural Colorado communities. Today we help people get well and stay healthy at nine locations across Custer, Chaffee, Lake and Fremont Counties.

Our programs—physical health, mental health and substance use treatment—meet the complex integrated care needs of clients in a 5,000-square-mile region. The population in this region is expected to increase at a combined annual pace of 11% over the next decade.

The new Regional Assessment Center (RAC) is essential for providing effective care for people in this rapidly growing area.

What We Do

Learn about our approach to providing healthcare services in rural communities

At Solvista Health, we deliver physical and mental healthcare services that are:
Local

Our staff and board members live and work in our communities, allowing us to understand the local needs of the people we serve.

Comprehensive

We work from a holistic perspective of health. We treat people, not conditions.

Accessible

We make it easy for clients to get the care they need, with nine convenient locations.

Collaborative

We work with a trusted network of partners to give people access to the resources they need to thrive.

From Our CEO, Brian Turner

Get Solvista Health’s perspective on Colorado’s 13,000 square mile healthcare “donut hole”

Even in the best of times, construction projects can be tricky, and I think we would all agree this past year was anything but the ‘best of times.’ COVID-19 has had a profound impact on us all, pushing our limits and challenging our resilience.

For Solvista Health, the pandemic tested our resolve to construct a pioneering crisis facility for mental health and substance abuse in our region of Colorado. Though we faced some initial delays, I am thrilled to say that we are now charging forward thanks to the perseverance, partnerships, and leadership that exemplify the very character of our amazing rural communities.

We have a very clear understanding that across southern Colorado, individuals struggling with their mental health or substance use have long been marginalized and underserved. We also understand that these individuals may be our neighbors, colleagues, friends, family and even ourselves. Directly or indirectly, we are all impacted by mental health or substance abuse over the course of our lives. It is our shared interest to offer accessible, effective and dignifying treatment for those in need.

Unfortunately, we have had a 13,000 square mile ‘donut hole’ smack dab in the middle of the state where the right treatment is not available: but no more.

Our passion is putting people first. That is why we are building a Regional Assessment Center, staffing it with the highest quality clinicians and infusing it with support services that deliver hope, respect and connection to those we will serve in every way, every day. The Regional Assessment Center will provide what has never been offered before in our communities.

Recovery and wellness are possible for those who need our help. Your philanthropy and support will bring this vision into reality. Thank you for helping us put people first and investing in the health of our community.

With gratitude,
Brian

The Power of Partnership

Your commitment truly can change the world

With your support, we can fill a critical gap in the continuum of behavioral healthcare in southern Colorado. The RAC will improve health outcomes and strengthen local systems of care. This center will reduce overall healthcare costs by providing the right level of care at the right place and time for individuals in need.

Additionally, the facility will serve as the “home base” for our regional mobile crisis teams, which also provide service 24/7/365, and for our law enforcement co-responder programs.

What’s more, with each successful outcome, the individuals, families and communities in our region will be stronger and healthier, which benefits them and our state as a whole.

Strong Support for Our Life-Changing Work

See who has formally endorsed the RAC

It’s hard to overstate the value of helping even one person regain their health and happiness. The positive impact of improving someone’s life ripples out to so many others – their families, friends, the community and beyond.

One measure of the need for the Regional Assessment Center is the resounding support it enjoys from regional and state entities. The Regional Assessment Center has been formally endorsed and designed with input from:

Canon City City Council
Canon City Police Department
Chaffee County Commissioners
Chaffee County Department of Human Services
Chaffee County Public Health
Chaffee County Schools
Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office
City of Buena Vista
Colorado 5th Judicial District
Colorado 11th Judicial District
Colorado Mountain College
Custer County Board of Commissioners
Custer County Department of Human Services
Custer County Office of Emergency Management
Custer County Sheriff’s Office
Diversus Health
Fremont County Commissioners
Fremont County Department of Human Services

Fremont County Interagency Oversight Group
Fremont County Public Health
Fremont County Schools
Fremont County Sheriff’s Office
Health Colorado, Inc.
Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center
Lake County Department of Human Services
Lake County Public Health
Lake County Sheriff’s Office
Leadville Police Department
NAMI – Southeast and High Country
Region 13 Substance Abuse Regional Coalition (formerly Region 13 Opioid Coalition)
Rocky Mountain Behavioral Health
Rocky Mountain Family Practice
Salida Police Department
Saint Thomas More Hospital
Saint Vincent’s Hospital

Signal Behavioral Health
Southern Colorado Health Network
Upper Arkansas Area Council of Governments
Valley Wide Health System
Lake County Sheriff’s Office
Leadville Police Department
NAMI – Southeast and High Country
Region 13 Substance Abuse Regional Coalition (formerly Region 13 Opioid Coalition)
Rocky Mountain Behavioral Health
Rocky Mountain Family Practice
Salida Police Department
Saint Thomas More Hospital
Saint Vincent’s Hospital
Signal Behavioral Health
Southern Colorado Health Network
Upper Arkansas Area Council of Governments
Valley Wide Health System

We hope you will join our growing list of supporters. Together, we will realize our shared vision for recovery, health and wellness to help our rural communities thrive.

Help Us Help Coloradans In Need

Project Updates

See how far we’ve come and learn about work yet to be done

RAC Groundbreaking Event

Check back for more updates throughout the project!

Help Get This Critical Project Completed

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