SLO County residents struggle to find treatment for mental illness
"I remember driving up and down the coast crying my eyes out and not knowing what to do, worrying my daughter is going to die. It's just horrible, trying to explain that in words to someone," she said.
A single mother at the time, Medinger had to commute from her job as an occupational therapist in
The distance intensified Medinger's fears about her daughter's illness, she said. But she had no choice: To this day,
"The emotional and financial burdens were huge," Medinger said. "Being so far away from home added to my young daughter feeling terrified."
Those emotions have been rehashed in recent months as a private landowner seeks to build a pair of health-care facilities in a two-phase, estimated
Plans call for both a memory care facility and a psychiatric hospital.
But it's the 91-bed psychiatric hospital that's triggering the debate.
It's designed to treat a full spectrum of mental illnesses such as depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Patients would stay in separate units -- for children, adolescents, adults and seniors -- on private insurance for short-term, voluntary inpatient stays. The hospital would not treat those suffering from substance abuse.
Just recently, two advisory boards with the county's
Locally, the only inpatient psychiatric hospital is run by the county and offers 16 beds primarily for
The
Differing views
Some say the project is too big for the area, would be a drain on local services such as law enforcement and would make rural
"It's almost ludicrous to me that they think this is the ideal location for this facility,"
But supporters say such a facility would fill a much-needed gap in mental health services in the county -- particularly for children and seniors. And, they note, its proposed location is already home to other medical facilities.
"To not be able to assure ... people that they can get their treatment here means we're sending people anywhere from two-and-a-half hours away to seven hours away. I don't think that's adequate," Vick said. "I understand all the concerns, but the bottom line is we have a lot of people in this community that need this level of service."
What SLO County has now
Many in the mental health community agree that the county's current inpatient resources are inadequate.
"The resources are insufficient to meet the needs of a county this size," county Behavioral Health Administrator
She hasn't taken a stance on
The PHF, or "Puff" as it's called, primarily serves patients with
The PHF is unlike the proposed psychiatric hospital in
"For people with private insurance, there's no place for them currently," Robin said. "For an average person, if they had a breakdown and wanted to commit suicide and had a suicide plan, we would evaluate them here and then make arrangements to send them to an out-of-county facility where they accept private insurance, because we only have 16 beds and a stack of
Statistics suggest need
One in four adults experiences mental illness in a given year, according to statistics by the
About 20 percent of youth ages 13 to 18 experience severe mental disorders in a given year. For ages 8 to 15, the estimate is 13 percent, the statistics say.
For Medinger and her daughter, those statistics were more than numbers -- they were their reality.
"Both of us were so afraid -- her depression was so bad ... and she was so suicidal that I didn't know if I was going to lose her," Medinger said.
In 2014, 714
That figure includes both patients transferred from the PHF and patients who checked in independently.
The county transferred between 275 and 314 patients from the PHF to out-of-county psychiatric hospitals annually from 2012 to 2014 for reasons ranging from lack of space locally, patients it can't serve and patients needing long-term stays, officials said.
Joseph of
Joseph, now 30, was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 19 while away at college. Today, his parents say their son's condition has worsened since they moved from
The family says being so far away when Joseph is hospitalized is emotionally draining.
"You just want to hug him and you can't. And when he calls you, scared, you can't go to him and tell him it's OK," said his mother,
Overall, Robin said the PHF is adequate for the role it serves, but more psychiatric beds are needed in the county.
"SLO County really is under-bedded for this size population," Robin said, pointing to statistics in a 2014 report by the
The association recommends one bed per 2,000 people in any given population, to provide adequate psychiatric hospital care.
Under that standard,
Other counties also don't meet the association's recommendation.
In 2012, the statewide bed rate was one for every 5,809 people while the nation's average was one bed for every 4,845 people, the association's study states. With only 16 beds,
Some opponents of the
Questions about size
As the
Those concerned with the project say the number of patients transferred to out-of-county hospitals shows there wouldn't be enough demand to keep a 91-bed facility in business. "Yes, we need more than the 16 beds, but is it 100?"
Robin said that, while she hasn't taken a position on the
"We have people calling hospitals every day and asking, 'What's your availability?' and working to move people," Robin said.
Medinger says the number of beds doesn't matter as much as having a local facility to begin with.
"I would personally guess that currently there are some people who don't get inpatient treatment at all because they either can't afford to go out of the county, are afraid to be further away, or, if children, the parents don't want them that far away," she said.
Day 2: A closer look at the county's Psychiatric Health Facility.
Day 3: Arguments for and against the proposed psychiatric hospital in
Day 4: Meet the psychiatric hospital landowners and operator.
DETAILS OF THE
Here's a look at some of the details and highlights of the
The property: 5-acre site at 1155 Las Tablas,
Property owners:
Previous proposal: In 2007, the county approved a 192-bed assisted living facility. The Billigs eventually dropped the plan because of financing and other issues. Current proposal: 91-bed psychiatric hospital (previously planned as 96 beds) and 55-to-60-bed memory care facility for patients with Alzheimer's disease and dementia. The 35,000-square-foot memory care facility would be built first. An operator has not yet been selected.
Psychiatric hospital details: The 70,000-square-foot behavioral health hospital would be operated by
Patients would be in locked "care pods" grouped by age: a 21-bed unit for children ages 6 to 12; a 21-bed adolescent unit for ages 13 to 18; a 21-bed unit for adults 18 to 65; and a 20-bed unit for seniors 65 and older.
Eight more "swing beds" could be moved among the pods as needed. Each pod would have a dining area, recreation area, nursing station and its own staffing. Patient stays would be voluntary and typically last 8 to 10 days.
Treatment plans: Therapy and medication for conditions such as depression, anxiety disorder, suicidal thoughts, schizophrenia, social phobias, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children. No substance abuse treatment.
Insurance: Private insurance,
Discharge: Patients would need a doctor's assessment before discharge. Any patient deemed a danger to themselves or others would be transferred to the county psychiatric facility.
Jobs: The psychiatric hospital would create about 200 medical and staff jobs; the memory care center would provide about 30 jobs. Each would bring additional jobs in the construction phases.
Quote: "It's a hospital for people in mental crisis, as opposed to a physical crisis. The fundamental process is ... they come in and stabilize the patient with a treatment process and then (patients) go back to their private psychologist and other outpatient care."
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