By JODIE JACKSON JR.
Columbia Daily Tribune
COLUMBIA, Mo. — A lack of local bed space for mental health patients is worrying law enforcement officials.
In moves tied to the economy, Boone Hospital Center last summer closed its psychiatric ward, and Mid-Missouri Mental Health Center consolidated bed space in December. The moves resulted in 26 fewer local mental health beds.
“We didn’t have enough bed space to begin with,” Boone County sheriff’s Deputy Mike Krohn said of the lack of local mental health services. “It’s a nationwide epidemic. We’re not alone in this.”
Law enforcement officers are often responsible for taking patients to other mental health facilities when bed space is not available locally.
Last year, Boone County deputies traveled almost 14,000 miles to take patients to hospitals and similar facilities. If a patient is in police custody and the only available psychiatric bed is in St. Louis, two deputies taking that patient represent “eight man-hours that aren’t available to the residents for law enforcement in Boone County,” Krohn said. Those miles and man-hours could further accumulate if local bed space is not increased.
Columbia police Capt. Zim Schwartze said it is “very rare” that Mid-Mo turns away officers when they take in someone needing care. “Of course, their mission is to help these folks as well,” she said. “We’re all on the same side here.”
Mid-Mo does arrange for law officers “from time to time” to take patients to other facilities, said Bob Reitz, regional executive officer for the Missouri Department of Mental Health comprehensive psychiatric services division, which includes Mid-Mo and 10 other facilities.
“Certainly, our position always has been if we can’t find a bed and a person requires admission, we’re going to do everything we can to find them an appropriate bed,” Reitz said.
Mid-Mo plans Thursday to open a four-bed, 23-hour observation unit - a kind of mental health emergency room designed to help determine whether people seeking psychiatric treatment need inpatient treatment or some other level of care. The new unit was a topic of discussion at last week’s meeting of the Boone County Mental Health Board.
Krohn, a member of the board, said he is “nervous” about the possibility that more patients brought in by police might be released or sent to another facility after 23 hours, rather than being admitted.
Reitz said the only change will be that patients would be observed for 23 hours to determine whether inpatient or outpatient psychiatric treatment is needed. “If they come to a hospital and have some situational stress, a little time can be helpful for them to put themselves back together again,” he said. “The same thing happens in any other emergency room.”
Patients with “true psychiatric emergencies” will be admitted, Reitz said, even if it means having to look to another facility for a bed.
Other mental health service providers include the Arthur Center in Mexico, Mo., Royal Oaks at Windsor and other facilities across the state.
Meanwhile, Both Krohn and Schwartze said the lack of mental health bed space isn’t just a concern for law enforcement. “That should be a concern for the entire community,” Schwartze said.
Schwartze also said Columbia police are currently training to develop a crisis intervention team to handle situations involving mentally ill people or people impaired by alcohol or drugs.
Copyright 2009 ProQuest Information and Learning