South Jordan first responders meet with Sen. Lee, express need for better mental health, opioid treatment options


6 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SOUTH JORDAN — First responders in South Jordan expressed their need for better mental health and opioid treatment options during a meeting with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Thursday.

"These are people who are at the tip of the spear on some of society's greatest problems. I want to hear what's on their minds," Lee said.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said the county jail lacks mental health workers. The jail has had an opening for nearly six months and even though there are other mental health employees and programs there, the amount of cases continues to increase.

“It’s hard to find doctors and therapists that want to work in the jail,” she said. “The environment is probably not the best environment.”

Rivera said she feels bad for those who are in jail because they acted out due to a crisis or a mental episode and truly need professional help.

“They probably don’t need to be there,” she said. “We need a place we can take these folks and get them the true treatment that they need. Being in jail is probably not the solution for them. If they committed a crime — that’s different. But they may have just been acting out on something.”

But for some police departments, the jail sometimes serves as the “default mental health facility,” according to South Jordan Police Chief Jeff Carr.

Rivera believes having a specialized facility for officers to take anyone who’s been arrested and is dealing with mental health issues would be most helpful.

“It would really help the impact on the beds at the jail and we could keep those beds for the real criminals,” she said.

And it’s not just a police issue anymore.

The South Jordan Fire Department has seen a spike in mental health-related issues, said Chief Andrew Butler.

In fact, when it comes to medical calls of all kinds, fire departments spend about 80 percent of their time on medical calls and only 20 percent on fires, according to Butler.

Related:

But some fire departments are still surprised to see how many of those medical calls have something to do with mental health.

“We’re trying to deal with it,” Butler said. “Law enforcement is trying to deal with it and come up with solutions in ways to address the issue and really help people is what it comes down to.”

Another issue plaguing first responders is opioid drug abuse.

“We have seen a dramatic uptick in opioid abuse and opioid-related deaths by county in America. It’s just stunning,” Lee said.

Mental health and opioid abuse seem to be the two biggest issues right now and Lee thinks they're connected.

"You're saying you've got a lot of people occupying bed space in jails who need to be in a mental health care environment instead of jail," he said.

Rivera hopes talking to Lee about the problems the county faces will help raise awareness and create solutions.

“I think it was important to meet with Sen. Lee so we can let those who are working in the federal government know our issues here,” she said.

Photos

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Alex Cabrero

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast