UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, Ill., has added 15 inpatient beds to its behavioral health unit to better meet a growing need for mental health services.
"Since the pandemic, it seems the severity of psychiatric illness has been increasing exponentially," Carolyn Shima, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago Medicine, said in a May 13 news release. "There’s a really large need in our community for behavioral health services."
The $840,000 expansion will enable emergency department patients who are in need of behavioral health services to get an inpatient bed quicker, officials said in the news release. An inpatient attending psychiatrist and outpatient psychiatric nurse practitioner have also been added to the hospital's Tinley Park (Ill.) location.
The effort is also meant to support continuity of care, and is the groundwork for future plans to create a program that connects the families of patients who are experiencing a mental health crisis for the first time to educational and community support resources during their hospitalization.
Ingalls Memorial has one of the highest ED visits for behavioral health issues in Illinois.
"The UChicago Medicine health system and Ingalls Memorial are both voicing right now a really strong dedication to behavioral health on all fronts," Dr. Shima said, "recognizing the needs of our community, recognizing the needs of our patients and recognizing, I hope, a shift in attitudes toward behavioral health nationwide."