LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada health officials are proposing a 24-hour mental health urgent care center in Las Vegas.
The proposal is part of $7.5 million plan that also includes diverting people with mental health problems from prisons and jails.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/RpXm4m ) reports an analysis by state health officials showed 17 percent of those taken into custody in Washoe County last year suffered from mental illness. In Carson City the percentage was nearly 23 percent.
In Clark County roughly 10 percent of the more than 55,000 people held in jail had a history of mental illness.
The funding proposal was submitted to the governor's office as an "item of special consideration" outside the Mental Health Division's basic $294 million budget request.
Gov. Brian Sandoval will release his budget plan Jan. 16.
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
