| ||
| Vol. 21, No. 19 |
| October 15, 1999 |
|
MHMRA's New Crisis Center by ROGER WIDMEYER Texas Medical Center News After more than a year of construction and several delays of the opening, the NeuroPsychiatric Center of the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County (MHMRA) has opened in the Texas Medical Center.
And the wait has been worth it. The NeuroPsychiatric Center (NPC), which opened Wednesday, October 13, is located in the old Ben Taub General Hospital, and it replaces MHMRA's crisis center on Caroline St., which will close with the opening of the NPC. The new facility is housed on the first two floors of the original Ben Taub; a third floor for administrative services will eventually open. Clients and families are sure to be pleased with this attractive facility. The new center's emphasis will be emergency care which, as many mental health professionals point out, is very lacking in Houston and most major cities. The NPC is expected to take pressure off Ben Taub's emergency psychiatric service and also to largely prevent the inappropriate incarceration of psychiatric cases at the county and city jails. The new facility will be staffed 24 hours per day with psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses and other mental health professionals. NPC will admit voluntary and involuntary patients. The first floor of the NPC will be an outpatient facility for adults and children with a 23-hour observation program. The goal in this NPC program is to rapidly stabilize the patient, avoid hospitalization and to return the patient to home or another secure setting. If the patient does require hospitalization, the NPC's second floor has two inpatient units with a total of 39 beds (it will open with 28 beds and soon add the additional beds). The inpatient stays are intended to be relatively short, from two to five days. The average stay is expected to be three days. Only adults will be admitted to the service; children needing inpatient services will continue to be referred to the Harris County Psychiatric Center. "We certainly need to thank the board of trustees of MHMRA who had the vision to recognize the need for this facility," said Dr. Steven Schnee at a pre-opening ceremony on Oct. 4. The NPC staff conducted tours of the facility for approximately 300 guests.
"We expect that 80 percent of our consumers at the NPC will come through the front door - on a voluntary basis," Dr. Schnee later said. "We'll also expect to see about 100 new patients each month through the emergency entrance. The support and interest in our facility has just been sensational. "The advocacy groups for the mentally ill have repeatedly asked for this facility. The probate and magistrates' courts have been very supportive for years, and the Houston Police Department and other law enforcement agencies have formed Crisis Intervention Teams where they train their officers for this kind of intervention," said Dr. Schnee. At the pre-opening ceremony, MHMRA board chairman Gray Hampton Miller and Dr. Schnee presented recognition awards to several supporters of the NPC. "This is an extraordinary day for this community," said Karen Hale, Commissioner of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. "Clearly, there have been many partners in this effort - and in your future care for people." State Senator Jon Lindsay, who served as Harris County Judge prior to being elected to the Texas Senate, told the assembled guests, "We started thinking about this [facility] in 1975, so even then we saw the need." Lindsay's Commissioner Court colleague, Precinct One Commissioner El Franco Lee, was also recognized. "The Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority is on the front lines," Lee said. "And they offer us a view of how we are to treat our mental health patients. We welcome the opening of this facility for those who need it the most." Long-time MHMRA board member Dr. Spencer Bayles, who currently serves on the Texas state board of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, told the guests, "It is wonderful to see how far we have come since I joined the board in 1965, and certainly how much better things are now than they were in the 1950s. But this is just another step for us. There is still much to be done." "There are thousands of people waiting for services," says Dr. Schnee. "Many of them are in a crisis situation. They and their families are doing the best they can. Families are integral to long-term care, and to successes," he says. "It is essential that they be engaged in the care program." The effective use of an appropriate medication can be essential to the treatment program. The NPC's pharmacy will be open 24 hours. The NPC's location in the Texas Medical Center allows for appropriate transfer, if needed, and helps strengthen the agency's partnerships with Baylor College of Medicine and The University of Texas-Houston Medical School. Psychiatric residents from both schools will rotate in the NPC service under the supervision of the NPC psychiatrists who hold dual faculty appointments. Dr. Nancy Neff, professor of family and community medicine at Baylor, can see patients at NPC who may have medical conditions. "We can serve as a link to the community," says Dr. Neff. "If there is a medical condition - hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, or just a lingering cold - we will refer the individual to one of a Hospital District community clinics close to their home."
©2006 Texas Medical Center E-Mail: tmc-info@tmc.edu URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/10_15_99/page_01.html |
