COEUR d'ALENE — More than 170 people turned out Tuesday for the grand opening and ribbon cutting for the new Northern Idaho Crisis Center, which begins accepting patients today.

"This is a very conservative project," Gov. Butch Otter said at the opening on the Kootenai Health campus. "A lot of people maybe don't believe that."

The facility will save the community money in law enforcement and jail operations, government aid for the poor, and hospital care. The center will also save lives.

"This is the portal through which folks are going to come," Otter said. "Through which their lives are going to be saved, but their lives are also going to be changed."

The center will serve men and women 18 and older who need help with behavioral health or substance-abuse issues in Idaho's 10 northern counties. This is the second crisis center funded through the Idaho Legislature. The first opened in Idaho Falls in December 2014.

The center, located at 2915 Ironwood Court on the Kootenai Health campus, will be open 24 hours per day. It will have 20 beds, half for men and half for women.

Center workers will assess patients and help them access community resources. The patients will stay less than 24 hours.

The center will be managed by Don Robinson, a former FBI supervisory agent in Coeur d'Alene.

"This is the culmination of a huge effort by a broad-based group within the community," Robinson said.

That group includes law enforcement, health care leaders and elected officials, he said.

"For me, the best part of this project is not just that we think it will save lives and save resources, it's been the incredible cooperation and collaboration of all the different stakeholders," said Jon Ness, Kootenai Health CEO.

The Idaho Legislature budgeted $200,000 for the initial startup in Coeur d'Alene. The center's funding is a little more than $1.5 million annually for two years.

Kootenai County Sheriff Ben Wolfinger said in an interview that his deputies deal with people in mental health crises daily.

"I think we'll see a reduction in the calls for service for people who are experiencing mental health crises, because they'll have this resource to get to," Wolfinger said. "I think we'll probably see a reduction in the people in the jail who are mentally ill who end up there because they do some minor crime but there's really no place to put them."

He also anticipates a reduction in the county's overall suicide rate.

"If someone's just in crisis and needs some help, if they'll voluntarily come here, we'll give them a ride," Wolfinger said. Stays at the center are voluntary, compared with involuntary holds at hospitals.

"They can get the help they need at much less cost to the taxpayers," he said.