Hits & Misses
The West Mifflin community had a lot to celebrate this week with the ribbon cutting and open house for two new facilities that aim to help people of all walks of life.
On Wednesday, an open house was held for a new psychiatric facility offering inpatient and outpatient treatment that will soon be open in West Mifflin.
Three Rivers Behavioral Health and Residential care, located at 4043 Irene St., provides inpatient mental health treatment for older adults, adult residential treatment and adult intensive outpatient programs. These services are designed to provide trauma informed, short-term care and treatment to individuals with psychiatric diagnoses.
Three Rivers Behavioral Health Inpatient Hospitalization is designed for adults ages 55 and older who are experiencing acute psychiatric symptoms. The facility will also have a designated floor for ages 18 and older for residential care.
On Thursday, a ribbon cutting was held for a new family center operated by the South Hills Interfaith Movement at 1400 Lebanon Church Road.
The center, which opened earlier this year, expands SHIM’s capacity to serve families in need throughout the area, including West Mifflin, Pleasant Hills, Jefferson Hills, Baldwin, Whitehall, Bethel Park and other surrounding communities.
The mission of SHIM, a nonprofit based in Bethel Park, is to mobilize community resources and implement sustainable programs that compassionately help neighbors meet basic needs, achieve self-sufficiency and build community.
While the mission of both facilities is distinctly different, both aim to help people struggling during some of the hardest days of their lives.
That is something worth celebrating.
Congratulations to the City of Monessen and its police officers for agreeing to a contract that will see higher wages, stronger benefits and new quality-of-life provisions under a four-year labor agreement designed to keep officers in town and on the job.
Council approved the tentative contract with Teamsters Local Union 205, which represents the police, by a unanimous vote last week.
Chief Dave Yuhasz says the agreement is less about short-term recruitment and more about longterm retention in a region where many departments struggle to keep a full roster.
The department currently operates with about 10 full-time and three part-time officers, not including the chief.
Longevity pay, long viewed as a weakness in prior agreements, was restructured to reward career officers. Officers will now earn an additional 1.5% of base salary every two years of service, up to a maximum of 15%.
“This contract gives them a reason to stay here and grow with the community,” Yuhasz said.
We couldn’t agree more.
