SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — While Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken said this week The Link program is successful, the funding model needs to change.
“We aren’t sustainable right now in our current model. We just aren’t,” TenHaken said at Tuesday’s joint Sioux Falls City Council and Minnehaha County Commission meeting.
TenHaken said one of his goals is to help establish a sustainable funding model.
“(Link board) is working on a 2030 funding model,” TenHaken said.
The Link is a triage center that helps to address immediate substance withdrawal, mental health and related issues. It is a collaboration between the city of Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County, Sanford Health and Avera Health. The program is housed near city hall and helps to reduce overall visits to emergency care and jail for individuals accepted to The Link.
One need on the financial end is to ensure Sanford’s continued partnership, TenHaken said.
“Sanford has stepped down its financial contribution a little bit this past year,” TenHaken said. “I’m not going to go softly into the dark night and let that happen. I’m having conversations (with Sanford) about that.”
KELOLAND News contacted Sanford Health for this story. The story will be updated if it responds.
He pointed out The Link is keeping individuals from using Avera and Sanford emergency rooms and saving them a lot in charity care because many individuals served by The Link do not have insurance.
As of Thursday, The Link’s website reported that since it opened on June 1, 2021, The Link has had more than 2,300 triage encounters.
Council member Rich Merkouris asked if The Link had an impact on the jail population in Minnehaha County.
“To a certain level,” Minnehaha County Commissioner Rich Karsky said. The county contributes about $300,000 to $400,000 to Link, according to comments at the March 25 joint meeting and the March 18 county board meeting.
Karsky said the county has saved about what it contributes each year.
The county and the city both use opioid lawsuit settlement money for The Link, TenHaken said.
The county on March 18 approved an additional $82,000 in surplus 2021 and 2023 Safety and Justice Challenge Grant Funds for The Link.
To TenHaken, The Link directly addresses the homeless in the city and county. Many of the homeless have mental health or substance issues, he said. The Link helps individuals with that, he said.
Another of TenHaken’s goals is to re-structure the governance of The Link. It made sense at the beginning to have the mayor and a county commissioner on the board but now, “We have to get more subject matter expertise,” he said.
