Ulster County's first mental health urgent care is now open in Midtown Kingston.

Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan says the county is stepping up its response to addiction and mental health issues. Since the pandemic started, suicides in the county doubled from year-to-year and fatal overdoses increased 93%.

“We’re getting calls every single day from individuals and family members that are trying to deal with opioid addiction, or dealing with mental health issues that have really been exasperated by the pandemic," Ryan said.

Access Support for Living will operate the center, located near Kingston Hospital.

David McNamara, executive director of Samadhi Recovery Community Outreach Center, says this new urgent care is equipped for rapid response.

“People that are in urgent need, need to get a script to get them through the next few days," McNamara said. "They’re really going to be excellent for those types of situations.”

But the center only has so much capacity, and Ryan says it won't replace the 60 mental health and detox hospital beds that moved from Kingston to Poughkeepsie recently due to the pandemic.

What was supposed to be a temporary move last May is now being proposed as a permanent one.

Local leaders and hospital staff have been fighting to bring these units back ever since. Both Ryan and McNamara say that adding an urgent care won’t replace the longer-term care these beds provide in a place where the need is still great.

“In the same way that you need both a hospital and an urgent care in traditional health care, we need the same in mental health and addiction," Ryan said.