Joint Statement from NAMI Virginia and Treatment Advocacy Center on Virginia’s Psychiatric Bed Crisis
This week, Commissioner Alison Land at the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) announced the temporary closing of admissions at five adult state psychiatric hospitals: Catawba, Central State, Eastern State, Piedmont Geriatric and Western State. The reasons cited include a lack of workforce and safety. Commissioner Land emphasized her understanding of the need for psychiatric beds at state hospitals and pledged, “My sincere hope is this admissions closure will not last a day longer than it needs to. We will keep working diligently to find solutions to improve staff to patient ratios and plan to reopen beds incrementally as staffing levels improve.”
Commissioner Land further stated that, “DBHDS will continue building its staffing levels at every hospital.”Commissioner Land added that private hospitals are not facing these same staffing concerns and that patients should be diverted to those hospitals.
Private hospitals are not always an option as they can be selective in the patients they accept. These hospitals can exclude patients based on level of illness, insurance and means of payment, or state of crisis. In many cases, Virginia state hospitals have been the sole source available for numerous patients. If state hospital beds are not available, some patients will have no access to hospital care.
While we recognize that Virginia’s hospitals are doing the best they can with worker shortages and full-capacity patient censuses nearly every day, the pandemic’s worsening impact on mental health has made psychiatric hospital beds more necessary than ever. Losing these beds would be devastating to individuals in need, and could have tragic repercussions.
Virginia has already shut down 30 out of 48 beds for adolescents and children at the Commonwealth Center for Children & Adolescents, leaving only 18 state psychiatric hospital beds available for Virginia’s children at the adolescent facility in Staunton. The closure of these beds hinders access to acute care to Virginia's children with serious emotional disorders which can lead to devastating consequences.
Sadly, Virginia’s shortage of psychiatric beds is not new. The state has been hemorrhaging beds for decades, to the detriment of some of the most vulnerable Virginians, those with severe mental illness. Closing Virginia hospital beds must not be an option. Mental health advocates are called upon now to assist DBHDS and state hospitals by requesting a portion of the $4 billion dollars Virginia will receive in COVID-19 relief funds from the American Rescue Plan be used to increase the workforce and keep all state psychiatric beds open.
Due to DBHDS’ historic insistence that state hospital beds be closed to reduce costs, our two organizations fear that the state may divert bed funds and keep these desperately needed beds closed permanently. We must act now to assure the number of Virginia state psychiatric hospital beds are not reduced or permanently closed!
Virginia is due to receive $4 billion dollars in COVID-19 relief funds from the American Rescue Plan. These funds can be used to support the workforce and Virginia’s state hospitals. Please call Gov. Northam and your state legislators and ask that a portion of these funds is used to keep all state psychiatric hospital beds open in the state of Virginia – and that emergency funds for staffing be made available to address shortages that can create safety concerns.
Gov. Northam’s office can be reached at 804-786-2211 or via email by clicking HERE. Please contact state legislators at 804-698-1788 or call your House delegate directly by clicking HERE and your state senator directly by clicking HERE.
We also urge advocates to reach out to the members of the Joint Subcommittee to Study Mental Health Services in the Twenty-First Century, chaired by Sen. Creigh Deeds, and urge them to take up this vital issue as part of their mental health reform agenda.
Thank you for joining with us in this urgent fight. Together, we can make a real difference in the lives of some of the most vulnerable Virginians.
Sincerely,
Kathy Harkey, Lisa Dailey,
Executive Director, NAMI Virginia Acting Executive Director, Treatment Advocacy Center