KRWG: Doña Ana County officials respond to Crisis Triage Center closure

The Doña Ana County Triage Center abruptly shut down after county officials declined to further fund the center over concerns about the expense.

LAS CRUCES — The Doña Ana County Triage Center in Las Cruces is now closed. The closure comes after a January 9 County Commissioners’ meeting where the board had a split vote and ultimately denied RI International a nearly $562,000 grant from New Mexico’s Behavioral Health Services Division.

Doña Ana County Commissioner Shannon Reynolds said he does not speak for the whole board, but by his own assessment, the triage center was too expensive to rationalize funding.

“As time went on and [RI international] asked for more money, I still asked for results to justify the additional monies, and I don’t think we ever received that. And that’s why we are where we are,” he said.

Commissioner Reynolds said he does support the idea of a crisis triage center, but only when it makes financial sense.

“I’d like to find someone locally who’s in the community so the money stays in the state and we support more jobs and more businesses here in New Mexico and in Doña Ana County [rather than] having an organization from outside the state, like they did from Arizona, actually come in and try to provide the service.”

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