TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A new 24-hour crisis center for children and teens is set to open Tuesday, Sept. 1, on Tucson’s north side, offering another option for families facing urgent mental health and psychological needs.
Hour Child Crisis Center will serve patients ages 6 to 17, according to its founders, nurse practitioners Tabitha Salzer and Isabella Waszkiewicz. The center held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday.
“We’ve seen a lot where we need a need, and we don’t have this in Tucson,” Salzer said, referring to the need for more around-the-clock pediatric crisis services.
Waszkiewicz, the center’s co-founder and medical director, said opening the facility marks the next stage of an effort that has required substantial work.
“We’ve been committed to this process from the beginning, and we’ve worked a lot, put a lot of time and effort into this,” Waszkiewicz said. “This is just the next phase.”
Tucson already has several crisis resources, including the 24/7 Crisis Response Center at 2802 E. District St., as well as the Southern Arizona Crisis Line and the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. State and local officials advise families to call 911 during an immediate medical emergency or when someone is in immediate danger.
Waszkiewicz said the new center grew out of a need the founders saw among young patients.
“We kind of started seeing patients go out, and they just don’t have the resources,” she said. “We decided to go like, ‘Well, we can take a leap of faith,’ and we did!”
Therapy Director Hayley Macatangay said providing children with support during difficult moments can help them move beyond those experiences.
“Even though this may feel really big, and it is really big, you can manage it, and you can work through it,” Macatangay said. “It doesn’t have to define a particular age or experience or memory. You can move through these things and be your best self.”
Salzer said the center is intended to give families a safe place to seek help at any hour.
“If your child wakes up in the middle of the night and is like, ‘I’m suicidal,’ and you have a parent going, ‘Oh my gosh, what are we gonna do?’ It’s 11, 12, 1 o’clock at night. This is a safe place to come. We can assess them, get them the services they need,” she said.
The center is scheduled to begin accepting patients Tuesday.
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Eddie Celaya is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9. Born in Tucson and raised in the Phoenix area, Eddie is a life-long Arizonan and graduate of the University of Arizona who loves the desert and mountains and hates the cold. Previously, Eddie worked in print media at the Arizona Daily Star. Share your story ideas with Eddie at edward.celaya@kgun9.com, or by connecting on Facebook or Instagram.
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