Health care
BY JAMIE MOORE
Health Care Edition
2025
Readers, welcome to your annual CI Health Care Edition! They say, “If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything”—and in Pflugerville and Hutto, health care options are growing. In addition to the hospital expansion, the area is looking to add more hospitals, clinics, labs and treatment facilities. Dive into our Annual Health Care Edition to explore your local options, and thank you to our sponsors and advertisers for enabling Community Impact to keep our residents informed.
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Amy Leonard Bryant General Manager abryant@ communityimpact.com
Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Pflugerville BSWHealth.com/PflugervilleMC 512.654.6500 The power to live better®
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With mental health calls on the rise, Central Texas agencies are adapting quickly. A February 2021 fact sheet from the National Alliance on Mental Illness revealed that more than half of Texas adults with a mental health condition did not receive treatment in 2020. Health leaders said that although legislation has since improved access, significant gaps remain. Across the region, Crisis Intervention Teams and mental health units are being embedded in police departments. Counties are also expanding psychiatric services in jails to help bridge gaps. The Travis County Sheriff’s Office crisis team focuses on inmate mental health. Daniel Smith, director of inpatient mental health programs, said up to 40% of inmates receive psychiatric services, but post-release care is often complicated by funding and long wait times. TCSO also works with Integral Care’s Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team to provide services and divert individuals from ERs and jails. Mental health gaps drive crisis team expansions
In Pflugerville
Mental Health and Incarceration in America 3.34M in Texas specifically have a mental health condition, according to the NAMI.
In Pflugerville, the police department has embedded 12 CIT officers across its patrol shifts. In March, the department launched a co-response program in partnership with Integral Care, the local mental health authority. The model pairs a CIT officer with a clinician from Integral Care, allowing them to ride together and respond to mental health calls as a team, according to Chief Jason O’Malley and Lt. Chet Vronka. The initiative aims to reduce unnecessary transports to jail or emergency rooms. The department was recently awarded a mental health grant, which will allow for additional staffing and resources. According to O’Malley and Vronka, the grant will fund a full-time clinician, designated bed space at Cross Creek Hospital, and triage training for dispatchers so they can better assess incoming mental health-related calls. In some cases, trained dispatchers may be able to direct individuals to resources without requiring a police response.
U.S. adults that experience mental illness each year
U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each year
Youth ages 6-17 experience a mental health disorder In jail or prison and have a history of mental illness Experience a serious mental illness and has been arrested Youth in the juvenile justice system with a mental health condition
SOURCE: NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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PFLUGERVILLE - HUTTO EDITION
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