Regional Psychiatric ED Opens in Austin

April 30--Sunlight streams through floor-to-ceiling windows in private rooms at the Seton Psychiatric Emergency Department.

The beds are soft, the floors maple-colored, the walls a neutral green and beige. More than 2,500 people dealing with mental health crises are expected to stay in these rooms at University Medical Center Brackenridge over the next five months and supporters say they want patients to heal in a soothing environment.

On Tuesday, Seton opened its doors to the first psychiatric emergency department in Central Texas. The 17-bed facility, located at 601 E. 15th St., will be used to assess, stabilize and work with people having severe psychiatric problems. The new department is expected to ease the pressure on local emergency rooms ill-equipped to handle the constant influx of mental health patients.

"This is long overdue," said Central Health Chairwoman Brenda Coleman-Beattie.

Mental health providers have wanted a psychiatric emergency department for years, but they had neither the space nor money to make it happen, said Dr. Kari Wolf, who will run the new facility. So people in crisis -- some of whom are hallucinating, delusional or psychotic -- have been sent to general emergency rooms while hospital staffers try to find them a spot at a psychiatric facility. Between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2013, Brackenridge's emergency room saw 3,000 patients whose primary diagnosis was a psychiatric disorder.

Some patients have waited 24 hours or longer to get into a local facility, usually because they didn't have the money to go to a private psychiatric hospital and the publicly funded beds -- such as those at Austin State Hospital -- are full.

The new psychiatric emergency department became possible through local money and federal matching funds. Operating the department will cost $3.2 million in its first five months of operation and $9.4 million in fiscal 2014-2015

While the federal money made the new facility possible, states across the country are also beefing up their mental health budgets, said Dr. Kyle Janek, head of the state Health and Human Services Commission. Last session, Texas legislators allotted more than $2.6 billion for mental health services across the state -- a 16.3 percent increase from the previous legislative session.

Part of the reason for the trend is the growing awareness of the mental health problems faced by returning veterans, which has helped reduce stigma around psychiatric care, he said.

"No one is going to accuse them of being weak," Janek said.

The 17 rooms in the psychiatric department are divided into two sections: seven for patients who can be treated and released quickly, and 10 for acute patients who are being held involuntarily or who need to be transferred to another psychiatric facility. While the rooms are supposed to be soothing, they are also designed to be safe. There no sharp edges in the bedrooms. The sinks are rounded and the shiny mirrors are made of metal so patients can't cut themselves on glass. The beds and dressers are secured to the floor

"Think of all the people who will be served here," said Sen. Kirk Watson, who helped develop the project. "It is really a phenomenal moment in our county's history."

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