The number of in-patient psychiatric beds in Snohomish County could increase nearly tenfold over the next four years, due in part to recent state approval of new psychiatric units in Monroe and Smokey Point.
Meantime, there’s only one in-patient psychiatric unit in the county, with 23 beds, at Swedish/Edmonds hospital. “Currently, a number of people needing inpatient mental health services are required to go out of our county” due to the lack of available beds, said Cammy Hart-Anderson, a manager in the county’s Human Services Department.
But units planned or about to open will help relieve the shortage.
Earlier this month, the state Department of Health approved proposals to add a new 34-bed psychiatric unit in Monroe and add 50 beds to previously planned 75 beds at a new psychiatric hospital at Smokey Point, for a total of 125.
And a new 30-bed adult psychiatric unit is to open Sept. 29 at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
The additions mean that over the next four years, the number of psychiatric beds in the county is expected to grow from 23 to 212.
And for the first time, the county will have an in-patient unit for children — 25 of those 125 beds at the planned Smokey Point psychiatric hospital.
“We’re fully supportive of anything that translates to more psychiatric beds,” said Keith Binkley, president of National Alliance on Mental Illness Snohomish County. “The fact that Washington is ranked near the bottom in beds per capita is not acceptable.”
The projected growth in the number of psychiatric beds in the county is “on par with what’s needed,” he said. “I think everybody in the organization would be thrilled to see that kind of capacity. It’s a good sign, a very good sign.”
US HealthVest received state approval to add the 50 beds to its planned $18.8 million hospital in Smokey Point. Adding 50 beds is expected to cost another $3.4 million.
The services expected to be provided at the hospital include adult psychiatric treatment, services for military personnel, women’s services, programs for geriatric patients, faith-based mental health, drug and alcohol programs, help for youth and adolescents, mother-infant programs, and both voluntary and involuntary in-patient hospitalizations, according to state Department of Health documents.
Richard Kresh, president and chief executive of US HealthVest, could not be reached for comment. US HealthVest hopes to open the first 100 beds in January 2016 and add an additional 25 beds in 2018, according to state documents.
“We’re pleased there will be additional resources available for children, youth, adults and speciality populations,” Hart-Anderson said. “They’re also going to target services for veterans.”
Fairfax Hospital, which operates a psychiatric hospital in Kirkland, received state approval to open a 34-bed, $2.4 million adult psychiatric unit at Valley General Hospital in Monroe. It’s scheduled to open by January, according to state documents.
Fairfax plans to offer programs for geriatric patients, dual-diagnosis patients, such as those with addiction and psychiatric problems, and patients either voluntarily or involuntarily hospitalized for psychiatric treatment.
“We’re particularly excited about the program in Monroe because they’re targeting geriatric patients with psychiatric issues,” Hart-Anderson said. “Right now, they’re particularly hard to find psychiatric beds for.”
The state Supreme Court recently ruled that so-called boarding — holding psychiatric patients long term in hospital emergency departments because of a statewide shortage of beds in psychiatric units — is illegal. “We find that the people at the hospital that are there the longest and are the hardest to place are these geriatric patients,” Hart-Anderson said.
Valley General previously had a general psychiatric unit, but it closed in 2011. The new unit will have about 15,000 square feet of space on parts of two floors in the hospital, said Eric Jensen, the hospital’s chief executive.
For now, Seattle’s Northwest Hospital and Medical Center is the closest hospital that has a geriatric psychiatric unit, according to the Washington State Hospital Association.
The two recent approvals for psychiatric units are in addition to a third unit scheduled to open Sept. 29, a 30-bed adult psychiatric unit at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, also operated by Fairfax.
The unit, on the seventh floor of the hospital’s Pacific campus, will have a staff of 45 people. Fairfax spent about $4 million on construction and other costs associated with opening the unit. It will treat patients between the ages of 19 and 55 who are both voluntarily and involuntarily admitted to the unit, according to Matt Crockett, an assistant administrator Fairfax Behavioral Health.
One other major proposal for new psychiatric services, this one in south Snohomish County, has been turned down. Cascade Behavioral Health had planned to open a $24.5 million, 80-bed psychiatric hospital in Bothell’s Canyon Park neighborhood. But that request was rejected by the state Department of Health last month. The hospital would have been built at the corner of 23rd Drive SE and 220th Street SE.
Sharon Salyer: 435-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
