Town hall meeting discusses mental health

Apr. 26—MOULTRIE — Mental health was the primary topic of Thursday's town hall meeting, presented by Colquitt County's branch of NAACP.

Open for anyone to attend, five local representatives — Fire Chief Chad Kilgore, City Manager Pete Dillard, Chief of Police Chad Casteberry, Georgia Pines Micheal Bailey and NAMI representative Todd Lynch — were available for questions from the public.

The live-streamed event was set up with moderators who verbalized questions that were written from the audience.

A total of 12 questions were presented.

Castleberry, who received most the questions not regarding mental health specifically, spoke about topics such as cultural awareness and domestic dispute training, diversity within the department and the effort being taken to enhance the trust between officers and the community.

"It's a two way street," said Castleberry in regards to communication between the police and public. "We can only be as successful as our community allows us to be; however, we need to work on getting out of our cars more and introducing ourselves — meet people in the community."

Another topic highly discussed was in regards to keeping houses in the community up to code.

Dillard was the primary speaker responding to this topic.

"We now require that a full inspection be done each time a home changes hands," said Dillard. "This makes some people upset, but it helps ensure that all residents — homeowner or renters — have homes that are up to code and suitable to live in."

Electricity is one aspect checked, but in addition to that things such as vents, windows and searching for mold are also completed.

Currently, the city is working to obtain grants in order to assist those homeowners in the community who need funding to improve their houses.

Thus far, three houses in southwest Moultrie have been demolished and rebuilt, and the city is working to obtain another grant, this time for houses in northwest Moultrie.

Kilgore's primary discussion was based around the fire departments' assistance with medical calls as the the majority of firefighters in the city are also EMT-certified.

Focusing on mental health, the majority of the questions for this subject were answered by Bailey or Lynch.

Both spoke of programs those with mental health issues can utilize from a younger age to reduce the probability of negative impact on society later in life.

"Having great clinicians is imperative to the success of mental health programs," said Lynch. "There are no words for the work being done on a daily basis to make sure these programs are sufficiently in place."

"Being in a position to provide these services will benefit the entire community," said Bailey. "Untreated mental health affects everyone, but if we can get those individuals the help they need then we don't see as big of a revolving door of criminals."

One way all of these organizations are working together toward this common mission is having co-responder units.

Each time a call is placed to 911 where a certified clinician may be able to assist due to mental health issues, one will be dispatched to the scene along with officers.

"It's one of our greater successes," said Dillard. "It's worked well and has been a tremendous asset to continue to expand services."

All five of those on the panel extended the option to all that questions and concerns may be brought to them: All said they have open door policies.