LIFECORE Health Group hopes to expand staffing, services
TUPELO — For more than two decades, LIFECORE Health Group has been helping provide behavioral and mental health services in Northeast Mississippi; in the upcoming year, representatives hope to expand those opportunities and gain more staff.
LIFECORE Grants Administrator Will Ruff said mental health has been a growing issue for the country and locally since the turn of the century, and the health group's goal is to minimize risks and help the people of Lee County however possible.
"Our mission is to provide community mental health services to Lee County ... and focus on delivering those services as effectively and efficiently as possible," he said.
The health group has several programs, including addiction and chemical dependency relief and behavioral health services. Alongside these two pillars are youth services and crisis intervention. Ruff said Lee County has the first certified community-based health clinic in the state and a robust mobile crisis unit.
LIFECORE works with private and public entities to provide services like crisis training for teachers and law enforcement, as well as providing a counselor for each Tupelo and Lee County school.
Lee County taxpayers provide funding for LIFECORE. In 2023-2024, that was $110,630. That amount will increase to $121,700 for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
"It is just a team effort, and I think the last few years have been a success," LIFECORE Health Group CEO Raquel Rosamond said during an early September Lee County Board of Supervisors meeting, during which she gave her annual report.
Growing help
Data provided by LIFECORE shows last year the health service system served 5,399 individuals through both inpatient and outpatient services. This is up slightly from the 5,313 in the 2022-23 fiscal year, and the 4,992 served during the 2021-22 fiscal year.
According to Ruff, the number of patients served, as well as the need for the kinds of services LIFECORE offers, increased dramatically in 2019 and 2020 when the country was in the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite this increase, he said the case volume is stabilizing now.
"I would say that the numbers have increased a little bit, but overall, we're seeing a large need for services in the area," he said. "Fortunately, we are able to meet those needs with all of these community-based programs."
Most of LIFECORE's patients are served through support therapy, specifically children and youth outpatient mental health services. In 2023-24, LIFECORE worked with 2,067 clients in that field, with another 1,862 through outpatient mental health service through the health clinic.
Chancery Court Clerk Bill Benson praised the health group for its work with those in need, noting recent legislative changes that keep the Lee County Sheriff's Office from holding people with mental health problems for more than 24 hours.
"They have taken on a great deal more since July 1 with a change in statute ... for mental committals," he said. "(LIFECORE is) the ones in charge of finding the place for them to go. Hopefully, it is diverting some folks who don't need to be committed ... You can already tell a difference."
Responding to crises
One thing LIFECORE hopes to accomplish this fiscal year is doubling the number of beds in its crisis stabilization unit, a program that works hand-in-hand with law enforcement to provide mental health care in emergency situations.
As of now, there are eight staffed beds with eight more waiting for more staff. Ruff said like many in the health care industry, LIFECORE is struggling to fill open staffing positions.
"Hospitals are understaffed but so are community mental health clinics and the like," he said, dubbing staffing a "hyper focus." "It is very hard to deliver services without people in positions to do so."
Ruff also mentioned the health group's newer program, Fruition — a "high intensity" program with the Lee County Youth Court that connects youth in the court system to mental health care as well as trains parents.
"What you've seen over the past few years, especially, is how open children and families are to getting that care," he said. "It is important for communities in Lee County and Tupelo to have access to those services because we know that children are more anxious and that mental health concerns have risen really since 2012."
Another goal for this fiscal year is to reduce wait times for service, with the group aiming for same-day service or next day service rather than the sometimes month-long wait it has as of now.
"When people reach out, they are exhausted ... They need to be responded to within 72 hours to a week," Ruff said. "Same day access is something they hope to get to."
Not only does the health group work with the county and school, but they are also working on a memorandum of understanding with the local branch of the Salvation Army to work more in the organization's campus.
