Montage gets a $105.8 million gift to change the face of mental health treatment for county youth.

The same day Warren Buffett sent shock waves through Wall Street over news he’s planning to create an independent and innovative health care system, his sister made waves of her own in Monterey County’s mental health care system. Roberta “Bertie” Bialek Elliott announced with Montage Health on Jan. 30 that she donated $105.8 million – in no small thanks to being an early investor in Buffett’s company – to the nonprofit that operates the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula to build a child and adolescent health treatment center in Monterey’s Ryan Ranch.

The donation is the largest in CHOMP’s history, and the 18th-largest in the nation made by an individual in 2017. Speaking by video at a press conference, Elliott said the fact that the county has no hospital beds for children requiring mental health evaluations was a motivator, along with the opportunity to transform the way mental health care – both prevention and treatment – is delivered to youth. She named the future 24-bed inpatient center, which has an outpatient treatment wing, Ohana, the Hawaiian word for “family.”

Kevin Causey, vice president and chief development officer at Montage, said a nationwide search is underway to find a clinical director to lead and build it. Currently, children and teens in crisis may spend several days in an emergency room waiting for a psychiatric bed located up to 100 miles away, Montage officials said.

Of California’s 58 counties, 44 – including Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz – have no child/adolescent psychiatric beds, according to the California Hospital Association.