State psychiatric hospital system is at capacity; Eastern State’s geriatric units at 115%
Most Virginia state psychiatric hospitals have more patients than staffed beds, with Eastern State Hospital’s geriatric units now operating at 115% of capacity, the state’s top health official said.
“State hospitals experienced rapidly increases census levels and are currently at critical levels,” Secretary of Health and Human Resources Daniel Care and Commissioner Alison Land, of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services wrote to legislators last week.
They said six of the state’s eight hospitals for adults are operating at more than 100% of capacity. The letter did not name the facilities.
“You’re talking about people who have nowhere else to go,” said Del. Mike Mullin, D-Newport News.
He said he’s heard from several constitutents who work at Eastern State that the hospital has been at capacity for long stretches even before the pandemic, and has since seen a a surge of new admissions. The need to isolate some patients because they have the virus adds to the challenge, he said.
The situation for geriatric facilities, in addition to Eastern State’s units has become a crisis, Carey and Land said.
Catawba Hospital, near Roanoke, is at 108% of capacity. The geriatric unit at Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute, in Marion, also is at 115% of capacity.
The state has halted admissions to Piedmont Geriatric Hospital, south of Richmond, where 24 patients and eight staff have tested positive for the virus. The state has also stopped admissions at Southern Virginia Mental Health Institute in Danville, which is not a geriatric facility, because of an outbreak there.
Admissions to state hospitals have soared in recent years, and state officials have been pressing private hospitals to admit more Virginians when their mental health crises lead a magistrate to issue a temporary detention order.
In the first months of the pandemic, state hospitals reported little change in patient counts, and in some cases, decline.
But the letter to legislators noted that private hospitals did move to mitigate COVID-19 explore by moving to private rooms, which in some cases reduced available beds by 50%. Some have stopped admission to units, as the state did at Piedmont, because patients and staff tested positive for the virus.
That put more pressure on state facilities.
“We have a crisis right now,” said state Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Warm Springs, who leads a legislative commission focused on reforming Virginia’s mental health services.
He said he believes state officials are working hard with private facilities tackle the current overcapacity challenge. But, the risk of swamping state facilities is one Virginia will continue to face over the longer term, he said/
“We have to find a way to build up our community services,” Deeds said.
Dave Ress, 757-247-4535, dress@dailypress.com
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