Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs's Weekly Update.

Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs's Weekly Update.

TRANSCRIPT:

"It’s Friday! Time for another weekly update!

City Council and County Commission are both onboard with purchasing the former outpatient surgery center at the Old St. Mary’s Hospital Complex with plans on converting the building into an urgent care behavioral health facility.

This joint project between the county, the city, and, hopefully, the state will help divert folks who are suffering behavioral health issues away from our area emergency departments and to this facility where their needs can be better served.

The result will be alleviating pressure on our hospital systems, providing better care, and ultimately, saving taxpayer dollars. Big thanks to the City of Knoxville, Mayor Kincannon and the McNabb Center for being such great partners in this effort. If all goes as planned, we will purchase the building in early November and have the facility up and running within 24 months.

I really enjoyed my visit to Knox County School’s new Elevate Program. In the Elevate Program, students suffering with addiction issues get the support they need in both their recovery and their academics. I am extremely proud of this first class of students who have the courage and determination to keep going despite the challenges and I look forward to seeing the great things they, and the Elevate Program, do in the future.

I was honored to attend a ceremony honoring emergency services personnel for their life saving actions. These folks used the same skills Rural-Metro teaches in their stop the bleed campaign to save the life of the victim of a vehicular accident.

Read City USA is standing at 850,000 hours with a goal of reading one-million hours by the end of the year. You can help by going to ReadCityUSA.com and downloading the Beanstack Tracker app so you can log your family’s reading time and add it to our total.

Be on the lookout for our new small business video series featuring veteran-owned businesses here in Knox County.

This week’s Eat & Greet was at Sam & Andy’s in Fountain City. Next Friday, I’ll be at Scott’s Deli on Chapman Highway at 11:30. Please join me.

Until next Friday, I hope everyone has a great week."