Hampton, Va.-based Riverside Mental Health and Recovery Center’s psychiatric emergency department has cut the average time patients spend in an emergency room from more than 10 hours to about six hours and 20 minutes, WHRO reported Oct. 2.
The department opened in 2023 as Virginia’s first freestanding psychiatric emergency department. It gives people experiencing mental health crises direct access to psychiatric services rather than routing them through Riverside Regional Medical Center’s medical ER.
The department treats adults and children ages 5 and older and has recorded more than 16,000 visits since opening.
“Having Riverside Psych opened an avenue to where we could take them directly to seek care, whether it’s mental health, substance abuse, outpatient medication management,” Jennifer Royal, a crisis intervention specialist with the Newport News Fire Department, said. “It just opened a door for wraparound services all in one.”
Ms. Royal said the approach has also reduced how long police officers remain with patients, a process that previously could occupy officers for hours.
Ms. Royal said her team was dispatched to nearly 1,500 calls last year and transported people to Riverside’s psychiatric ER in about 250 of those cases.
Stacey Johnson, the center’s former president and now president of Riverside Doctors’ Hospital Williamsburg, said the department pairs a quieter setting with round-the-clock access to mental health professionals who can evaluate patients and connect them with appropriate care.
“You’ve got all the experts, just like if you were a cancer patient, you would want oncology experts to be the ones treating you,” Ms. Johnson told WHRO.
The 15,800-square-foot facility has separate treatment areas for adults and children, with 20 treatment areas in total, including 10 private rooms and 10 recliners, according to Riverside’s website. It also includes sensory rooms, secure outdoor areas designed for de-escalation, on-site lab services and an enclosed garage entry for emergency medical services and law enforcement vehicles.
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