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12/15/2025
Mobile response and care center are main pieces
An initiative led by the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office is still underway to create a center for people experiencing a mental health crisis, as well as a mobile response team that can deploy health professionals to address calls that, currently, only law enforcement might respond to.
Kami Stone, the county’s crisis diversion coordinator who is leading the effort, updated county commissioners on the project Dec. 9. Her work is funded by a three-year, $1.4 million grant from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.
The “diversion” piece of the project means creating an option for someone experiencing a mental health crisis rather than taking them to jail. Sheriff Jesse Slaughter has said in the past that the jail isn’t equipped to offer mental health care.
“There is a large portion who don’t really need to go to jail,” Stone told commissioners. “They need to go somewhere to stabilize their mental health.”
Stone has formed a “Behavioral Health Coalition” with area health care, law enforcement and community stakeholders. One initial goal is to create a framework that will let responders know who is involved with certain kinds of crises. Stone said she’s also working to bring mental health training to area emergency responders.
The larger plans — the physical stabilization center and the mobile response team — are still in the works. The county has been working with the Indian Family Health Clinic downtown to renovate a portion of its building to establish the stabilization center, but that building contains asbestos that needs to be removed before construction can begin.
Stone said that the clinic is awaiting a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for asbestos abatement to get started. She is working concurrently to form a mobile response team in partnership with Many Rivers Whole Health. Stone is seeking additional funding sources, including local opioid settlement money, for mobile response.
County commissioners were concerned that if the mobile response unit becomes active without the stabilization center, people will still end up at the jail without anywhere else to go.
“In my opinion, until you get that stabilization center, the rest of it isn’t going to work,” Commissioner Joe Briggs said.
A mental health mobile response team previously operated in Great Falls, but it ended in 2023 after the health care partner, Alluvion Health, ended its participation.
A new state law allows county attorneys to commit someone in a crisis to a 72-hour mental health holding facility. Once built, the stabilization center at IFHC would be the main destination for this kind of commitment. Currently, Benefis is the only other facility that can accommodate these holds.
Benefis Communications Director Sarah Yoder told Montana Free Press in an email that those admissions are handled through the emergency department. The hospital has admissions criteria and consults with the county attorney’s office to determine how to treat each case.
Data breach affects Benefis users
A data breach at a national debt-collection agency has affected approximately 26,624 Montanans, including patients at Benefis Health System.
The breach was found in January, according to a letter distributed by the agency, Wakefield and Associates. The company determined this fall that protected health information was exposed.
People affected by the breach should receive letters from Wakefield, and those letters started coming out in November. A community member shared their letter with MTFP, which stated that Wakefield had previously received customer information from Benefis as part of its work. The types of information compromised in the breach were health care provider ID numbers, dates of birth, social security numbers and “health information,” according to the letter.
It’s not clear how many Benefis users were affected. Wakefield offered one year of free credit monitoring to people affected by the breach.
Benefis posted about the breach Dec. 11 and said that no Benefis servers or networks were part of the breach. The hospital’s post characterized the breach as “an issue created by Wakefield and Associates” and didn’t clarify that Benefis patient data was part of the breach.
Sarah Yoder, communications director for Benefis, told MTFP in an email that the hospital no longer uses Wakefield as a vendor.
Patients of another area health system, Northern Montana Health Care, were also affected by the Wakefield data breach. A representative of Great Falls Clinic told MTFP that the hospital doesn’t use Wakefield as a vendor.
Photo Op
New snow brought contrast to the forest during a recent trip into the Little Belt Mountains.
Calling all photographers: Submit a photo for Great Falls This Week to mhudson@montanafreepress.org.
5 Things to Know in Great Falls
The University of Providence’s board of trustees has declared financial exigency, which empowers administrators to take quick action in programming, personnel and budgetary matters to bring the school back from a financial crisis. The university is seeking to avoid a major budget gap after the Providence health network announced it was pulling financial support. Read more here.
Great Falls Municipal Judge Steven Bolstad has announced his retirement after 11 years. His last day will be Jan. 1, according to a city press release. The city commission will appoint a judge to fill the remainder of the term, which ends Dec. 31, 2027. Voters will pick the succeeding judge in the 2027 municipal election. A city spokesperson told MTFP that even if Bolstad announced his retirement prior to the 2025 municipal election, the city commission would still need to appoint someone to cover the rest of the term. Prior to becoming a municipal judge, Bolstad worked as a teacher, a USDA firefighter and an attorney.
Following a November visit to the High School House in Great Falls, Gov. Greg Gianforte was back at the work site last week. As part of his “12 Days of Giving” campaign, he donated a portion of his salary to the construction program. The donation was just over $20,000. “As Montanans, we believe in hard work, opportunity and giving back to our neighbors. The High School House program brings all three together as students learn in-demand skills, families achieve the dream of homeownership and our communities growing stronger,” the governor said in a statement.
Free downtown holiday parking is in effect and will continue through Dec. 28. It’s one of the perks that survived a recent revision of parking fees and fines, as well as clawbacks of certain parking perks like courtesy spaces. While passing those changes, the commission agreed to maintain free holiday parking, at least for the time being.
Last week’s intense wind brought gusts of 101 mph to the Deep Creek area near East Glacier, according to KRTV Chief Meteorologist Ryan Dennis. The peak gust in Great Falls was 63 mph during the wind storm overnight from Dec. 8 to Dec. 9. Rocky Mountain Front communities were also hit hard with gusts topping 80 mph.
Public Notice
The city of Great Falls will hold a swearing-in ceremony for new elected officials on Tuesday. Those officials include Mayor Cory Reeves, City Commissioner Joe McKenney, Commissioner-elect Casey Schreiner and Municipal Judge Mark Dunn. The ceremony will also swear in the 45 elected neighborhood council members. Finally, there will be a reception for outgoing City Commissioner Susan Wolff.
The event begins at 5 p.m. on the second floor of the Civic Center.
Following the reception, the city commission will meet for its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Agenda items include appointments to the “Super TIF” committee, a new advisory group that will approve requests for tax increment financing money. Great Falls Chamber CEO Ed Brown, Downtown Great Falls Director Kellie Pierce and Easterseals-Goodwill administrator Mitch Tropila are the applicants. Cascade County Commissioner Joe Briggs and Great Falls Public Schools Business Operations Director Luke Diekhans are the representatives from their respective jurisdictions.
Also on the commission agenda is the first reading for an ordinance that would increase fines and fees in the downtown parking system. The vote on Tuesday won’t be final and will set a public hearing for Jan. 20.
You can read background on the parking fund’s issues and more on the Dec. 1 decision by the city commission to make the changes. But for quick reference, here are the changes that commissioners are considering.
