FARMINGTON – Concerns over possible changes to the local emergency mental health program will be relayed to the Department of Health and Human Services, participants at a forum decided Tuesday.

State legislation passed earlier this year, LD 2290, calls for the Department of Mental Health to consolidate programs and eliminate duplication of services, and to have management and access to crisis services centralized in more populated areas. Cuts are expected to start March 1.

Within Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties, a centralized site, perhaps Lewiston-Auburn, would impact services for Franklin County residents, said forum co-hosts Rick Batt, president of Franklin Memorial Hospital, and April Guagenti, executive director of Evergreen Behavioral Services.

A 40-mile trip for emergency care affects not only the patient but also hospital, police and other caregivers as well as the local taxpayer, according to those who spoke strongly against consolidating services.

After listening to medical and community leaders, state Rep. Janet Mills, D-Farmington, questioned why people felt the area would lose services.

According to Mills, who presented the bill to the Legislature with an intention to help preserve funding, it restores money to crisis mental health services. The consolidation revolves around adult and child psychiatric services, she said.

“There is nothing to prevent Evergreen from doing what it does,” Mills said of the bill.

In some counties, adult and child services are separate, unlike services provided in Franklin County, explained Guagenti.

“We’ll wait and see,” Batt said.

If the three counties receive a marginal cutback on funding, it’s an expected reduction, but if a large percentage is cut, the impact on the local crisis service and people is significant, according to those who spoke at the forum.

The crisis team includes a psychiatrist, a psychologist and qualified mental health crisis workers who receive a grant from the state of approximately $244,000 or about $280 per patient, explained Guagenti.

“While not attacking the premise to save money and in some areas the core idea is valid, it doesn’t work here. We’ve been down this road so many times,” Batt said, saying the government provides a plan and expects the community to make it happen.

“There is no concrete plan on the table now and we debated on the timing to bring it to the community,” Batt said.

Nearly 900 individuals in Franklin County receive treatment each year through emergency response. Some are suicidal or are experiencing other severe mental health issues, including substance abuse, that are handled round-the-clock by staff from Evergreen Behavioral Services, Guagenti said.

“A heart patient doesn’t wait in the emergency room to be told to go to Portland,” said physician Connie Adler. “How do I tell a teenager ready to kill herself to get in a car and drive to Lewiston.”