SalusCare set to reopen in Fort Myers after Hurricane Ian repairs

On Friday morning, SalusCare, a mental health and substance abuse facility in Fort Myers, is set to announce its reopening plans after suffering major damage during Hurricane Ian.

SalusCare has been closed since Ian devastated the building at 10140 Deer Run Farms Road. The empty beds and closed doors mean hundreds of people are not getting the help they need. But now there is some light at the end of the tunnel: At 10 a.m., WINK News will get a tour inside the repaired facility and hear an update on its reopening plans.

Hurricane Ian sent 2 feet of water flooding into the SalusCare Crisis Stabilization Unit, but the damage hurt more than just the building. Since the storm, so many people who are hurting mentally have not had SalusCare to help, and it remains one of the only mental health crisis units in Lee County.

Michelle Locke remembers the nights that seemed to never end.

“You don’t want to go to sleep because you don’t want to feel the guilt and shame of you know, not being there with your family, your kids. So you just struggled to stay awake and do drugs,” Locke said.

Michelle said she was a slave to drugs for 20 years.

“You walk the streets. you sell your body you sell your soul. It’s embarrassing. You’d be walking down 41 It’s just a horrible existence,” Locke said.

Four years later, Locke smiles from her undeniably successful and happy steps forward.

“I like to go to the beach. I love reading. I love working out. Watching TV, and being with my friends and family. Yeah, it’s just as simple things are what makes me happy. Now I live a very simple life,” Locke said.

It’s also the place police departments take people in a mental health crisis. SalusCare receives between 500 and 600 patients monthly to evaluate through the Baker Act. But with the stabilization unit closed, the Lee Health Emergency Department, Park Royal Hospital, the David Lawrence Center, and Charlotte Behavioral Health Care have had to process and care for an increase in patients.

“They were flooded with individuals needing psychiatric service. And they’re not prepared for that. It was a very quick spike a very quick increase in demand. So no, it’s not something that the community was prepared for. It’s not something that we were prepared for,” SalusCare President Stacey Cook said.

Re-opening has come with challenges. With no insurance reimbursement, SalusCare used emergency reserves to start the work. WINK spoke to SalusCare in January about what was needed to get back open.

“If that means borrowing money, if it means community fundraising, we’ll do that,” said Ed Kleinow, SalusCare treasurer. “I think we may have wasted too much time already waiting on the insurance company.”

Cook “We’re able to stabilize an individual who is suicidal and homicidal; we’re able to link patients to services that they need in order to become well, so it’s absolutely critical,” Cook said. “It’s an important and essential component of health care, and it’s missing right now. It is a huge missing link.”

The crisis stabilization unit cost over $1 million. SalusCare says it is limiting its purchases to essentials and asking for funds from the community.