Answering a calling.

When Jon and Janeen Wesner learned of Marian Regional Medical Center’s plans to establish a Crisis Stabilization Unit for local behavioral health patients in need in California’s Santa Maria area, it was a community endeavor that placed a heavy rallying cry on their hearts.  

With the potential for thousands of residents on the Central Coast to benefit from access to Marian’s Crisis Stabilization Unit, Jon and Janeen felt called to make a significant gift in support of the new outpatient behavioral health service by sponsoring the new facility’s Family and Visitor Waiting Room.

Jon and Janeen are no strangers to witnessing the widespread behavioral health challenges affecting so many in our communities.. Behavioral health conditions cut across all racial and socio-economic boundaries, affecting one in five United States adults, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

“Truly, everyone is touched by behavioral health and the Crisis Stabilization Unit project has been heavy on our hearts,” shared Jon. “We believe we are called by God to help those in need, and through our support, we know we are answering His call.”

As a Charter Member of The Legion of Marian, Marian Regional Medical Center Foundation’s women’s giving society, Janeen learned from hospital leaders of the need for the Crisis Stabilization Unit. She then not only shared this need with Jon to pursue a charitable contribution, but she also dedicated efforts to the Crisis Stabilization Unit’s fundraising campaign to raise $1.5 million.

“Truly, everyone is touched by behavioral health and the Crisis Stabilization Unit project has been heavy on our hearts,” shared Jon. “We believe we are called by God to help those in need, and through our support, we know we are answering His call.”

Opening in 2021, Marian’s Crisis Stabilization Unit will allow for local behavioral health voluntary and involuntary patients to remain in our community, as 50-75 percent of patients treated at the CSU will not require transfer to inpatient beds outside the community. The CSU’s team is comprised of specially trained psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, and support staff.

“Now, more than ever, our medical center is in need of funding for our Crisis Stabilization Unit, since as the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, medical experts forecast an increasing need for crisis mental health care across all communities,” states David Ketelaar, MD, Medical Director of Behavioral Health Services. “The earlier we can start treating our persons in crisis in the unit’s therapeutic, soothing environment instead of holding them in isolation in a single room in our chaotic emergency department awaiting a transfer out of our community, the better the outcome that will be achieved.”

“I’ve had loved ones in the past that would have greatly benefited from a local Crisis Stabilization Unit, but instead had to travel out of the area for the help they needed. So, knowing the need and hearing the specific plan for behavioral health, we knew we had to do something to help,” Janeen recounted after learning about how the new unit will fill a current gap for behavioral health patients. “We want to bring people together, both the patients in crisis and the families who are suffering. Our prayer is that this place will be one of hope and healing for those who are struggling.”

To date, the campaign for the Crisis Stabilization Unit has raised more than $2 million, well in excess of its original goal. To bring about meaningful communitywide change of great magnitude, the action of people with driven purpose and passion is required—people like Jon and Janeen Wesner. Jon and Janeen’s recent generosity will remain a tremendous blessing for Marian, and their legacy will be forever woven into the lives of the mental health patients and health care professionals at Marian’s Crisis Stabilization Unit.