Lack of Substance-Use Resources in Summit County Sends Patients Away From Home
While the behavioral health landscape in Summit County has grown more robust in recent years, there are still gaps in substance-use resources that force people to seek treatment outside the county. There continues to be a lack of services and providers in certain areas of care, including inpatient services, intensive outpatient services, psychiatric-level providers, bilingual providers and Medicaid providers, according to the Summit County Public Health Department’s 2022 health assessment.
Ruby Hornback, a clinical case manager for the Summit County Sheriff’s Office who works to connect those incarcerated in the local jail with substance-use treatment, said some of the resources that would be most helpful remain a pipe dream.
“Sober living would be the No. 1 thing that would be most helpful for a lot of people around here, I believe,” Hornback said. “The other thing we don’t have access to is inpatient residential treatment, and there’s also no intensive outpatient treatment for men in this community.”
Still, Summit County continues to work on behavioral health. Last year, the Summit County government designated Eagle Valley Behavioral Health as its community health center. The county’s partnership with the wholly owned subsidiary of Vail Health is expected to further expand the availability of mental health services locally and reduce barriers to accessing help.
In 2025, Vail Health plans to open the Precourt Healing Center, a 28-bed inpatient behavioral health facility in Edwards that will provide care for adults and adolescents experiencing acute psychiatric crises.
While still outside of Summit County, Pogue called the Precourt Healing Center and partnership with Eagle Valley Behavioral Health a “really big deal” for local residents.
Eagle Valley Behavioral Health is Summit County’s community mental health center. For more information, visit VailHealthBH.org or call 970-306-4673 to speak with a clinician.
