The Heartland mental health unit begins some changes today that officials say will improve services.

The change to three shifts and availability of services come about as a result of an agreement Heartland Health entered into with Horizon Health. Horizon, a Lewisville, Texas-based behavioral health care company, will take over management duties of the hospital's mental health unit.

Heartland Health also recently hired Mike Caputo as program director for the unit.

Jaren Pippitt, Human Motion Institute service leader for Heartland Health, said the changes will provide a more consistent level of services for their clients. For example, services such as recreation therapy and social work, which were only available Monday through Friday, are now offered on weekends. And the mental health staff will work three eight-hour shifts, instead of two 12-hour turns.

"The old schedule created a lot of gaps where a clinical person or a clinical team would be out of the unit for many days in a row," Ms. Pippitt said. "That provided some inconsistencies for the patients - having different care providers every day."

The Heartland mental health unit is a 24-bed, in-patient facility with an average daily capacity of 22 clients. The unit cut staff from 35 to 33 workers. Staff members had to reapply for the available positions.

"We are introducing an evening shift, so it wasn't easy to just slot people into the new positions," Ms. Pippitt explained. "Some of the job duties are changing, so we wanted people to fully understand that and therefore go through the interview process."

She said reduction in staff would not create any safety issues. The mental health unit works closely with the hospital security department, and staff members are on call if extra help is needed.

"If we get really busy, we'll have that availability of staff," Ms. Pippitt said.

A few months ago, Heartland Health implemented a service where mental health patients brought in by St. Joseph police could be screened and evaluated quicker. Capt. Kevin Castle, police spokesman, said the new procedure has worked out well.

"There were times if the (patient) didn't have any pressing physical illness, they might be sitting out there for hours, which is not good," he said. "Now they get right in, and it's much better for everyone."

Alonzo Weston can be reached

at alonzow@npgco.com.