For tens of thousands of hours each year, people struggling with mental health and substance use problems fill UNC Health Blue Ridge’s emergency department. Now, Burke County is moving forward with plans for a 16-bed crisis center designed to ease that burden and provide an adequate alternative to the hospital and the jail.

Burke County officials are planning to convert an $800,000 building at 720 E. Union Street into a 16-bed crisis and detox center using opioid settlement funds.